Second Chances
by Portal-girl
Summary: Post-DH: It's been fifty years since Voldemort's downfall, and all is peaceful. At least it was, until a curious girl with a curious story brings someone back from the dead--someone who shouldn't have come back at all.
1. Prologue

Title: Second Chances

Notes: Wow, it's been years since I've written fanfiction. I guess this started because of Starkiller, whose Post-DH fic caught my interest(Twin Vice Paranormal Detectives. Go read it!). But I can also blame a lot of it on the fact that I was geeking about Fred and George for five weeks straight.  
Anyways, I've got to thank my wonderful beta-reader, who not only pointed out the mistakes, but she gave some awesome suggestions!  
I also have to thank my mom, who is the biggest Pottergeek I know. We occasionally stay up late discussing and speculating upon various parts of the Harry Potter realm. She gave me a lot of awesome ideas, and helped me figure out a few things regarding several of the characters I'm using.  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or any of the named characters in this chapter. I own the girl, her patronus, and this story.

Prologue: The Patronus Message

_The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.  
__-Ginny Weasley_

"I'm tired of cleaning."  
"Tired or not, you're helping, Fred. Now get moving."  
"But that's no fun, Lily," the young man sighed.  
"If you don't, I'll sic James on you." The tall redhead jumped up and began sweeping broken glass from the dining room floor. The woman named Lily smiled, emerald eyes bright, and carried a few fallen plants out into the garden. Another young man with long black hair and dark eyes grinned from his place by the fire, where he was replacing the fallen photos on the mantle.  
"You still argue with her, even after helping to make the mess? Incredible."  
"You must remember who you're talking to, Sirius," said a scruffy-looking blond man from the table, where he was cleaning up spilled water from a broken vase.  
"Yeah," said Fred with a grin. "I'm difficult."  
"We've noticed," said a man with messy dark hair and glasses as he stopped in the door of the dining room. "Is your brother this bad?"  
"Almost," the redhead replied. The man with glasses laughed.  
"I can't wait to meet him."  
"Are you boys going to stand around all day yakking, or are we going to get this mess cleaned up?" The newcomer, a woman with bubblegum pink hair, slipped past the man with glasses, her arms full of dusty books, as all but the blond pretended to consider her question.  
"Has anyone seen Gideon and Fabian?" Lily asked, leaning in the window.  
"They went outside to fix up the shed," Sirius said.  
"They're not there. I thought maybe they'd come in."  
"Weren't they upstairs with you, 'Dora?" the scruffy-looking man asked.  
"I haven't seen them since they came down twenty minutes ago, Remus," the pink-haired woman replied. Everyone turned to look at Fred.  
"Hey, don't look at me. I haven't seen them since they knocked over that vase of daisies." A loud explosion and a yell caused them all to race in the direction of the White Room.

The White Room is just as its name suggests: white. At the center of the medium-sized circular room there is a large silvery design on the tiled floor. Sitting at the center of the pattern is a marble basin filled with clear water. There are countless White Rooms in Heaven, and all serve the same purpose—to bring good souls to the realm of peace they have earned.

Upon entering the White Room, the group of six stared at the two nearly-indistinguishable bodies beside the basin. They were male, tall and well-muscled with flaming red hair. Both were also covered with soot and shaking with laughter. Fred, Sirius and the man with the glasses, James, burst into laughter. Remus merely chuckled and shook his head. 'Dora scoffed.  
"What did you two just do?" Lily asked warily, sure she didn't want to know.  
"Just a little experiment, Lil," said one of the twins, who looked quite a lot like Fred.  
"Oh, 'Dora," said the other, who was slightly larger, and looked as though he had once broken his nose. "You can stop giving us the evil eye now. Fab an' I didn't hurt anything."  
"You could've waited for the rest of us," 'Dora said, her hair now the same shade as Fred's.  
"She's got a point, Gid," said the first. "Only Lil dislikes explosions and experiments."  
"True," said the second. "But they were all cleaning, still."  
"I don't dislike experiments," Lily protested. "And you two really should have been helping us finish. You're the ones who caused most of the damage."  
"We were chasing down a fox!" the first protested. "Right Fred?"  
"Where did that thing go after Lily and James caught us?" Fred asked.  
"We chased it in here. Gideon caught it." The larger twin held up a silvery fox by the scruff of its neck.  
"That doesn't look like a regular fox," 'Dora noted.  
"It's not," said Fabian.  
"We're pretty sure it's a patronus," Gideon said. "It got lost up here, and ended up in our backyard."  
"We thought it'd make a great pet," Fabian continued.  
"It's someone's patronus," Remus protested. "You can't just make it a pet."  
"Besides," Lily said, "It was probably sent here for a reason."  
"It'd have to be a pretty powerful witch or wizard to send a patronus to Heaven," Sirius noted. "And he'd probably have a really good reason for sending it here."  
"Maybe it's got a message," James suggested.  
"Only members of the Order can send messages," 'Dora retorted. "And no one in the Order has a fox patronus."  
"Why would someone send their patronus to Heaven?" Gideon and Fabian asked in unison.  
"Maybe he's in desperate need of aid," Sirius supplied.  
"I don't think a living person can send their patronus this far," Remus said. "It probably belongs to someone on this side."  
"But what if it doesn't?" Fred asked. "For all we know, it could be some new super powerful wizard we don't know about." He rubbed the fox behind the ears.  
"If it does have a message," Lily said, "I think we should hear what it has to say." The fox yipped, causing 'Dora and the men to laugh. The little silvery fox growled, though the action was less threatening than it was adorable. The three redheads laughed harder.  
"I believe she's trying to get our attention," Sirius said as the laughter faded. James and Remus nodded. The little fox seemed to smile as it sat up straight.  
The voice that came from the fox was feeble, and paused often. It was the tired voice of an older girl from the UK, possibly Wales or Ireland.  
"I don't know where this patronus will end up," she said. "But she'll talk to someone she can trust with this. Things are changing, but you probably already know that. Our world and the Muggle world are slowly getting closer. Soon, the Statute of Secrecy will be broken, and they'll know all about us. But a discovery has been made. One that will change the world, for better or for worse. I've been experimenting with different herbs, potions, charms—anything I can use, really. It's important, this artifact I found in the Forbidden Forest last year, when Professor Longbottom gave me detention for that incident with the fireweed." She laughed weakly, then coughed. When she continued, her voice seemed more brittle. "I can feel myself getting closer to unlocking the artifact's secrets with every day that passes. There's an electricity in the air, like something big is about to happen. I think—no. I _know_ that this has something to do with the artifact."  
"She doesn't exactly sound desperate for aid," Fred whispered, causing Gideon and Fabian to snicker.  
"Shh!" 'Dora hissed.  
"I admit," the voice continued, still weak. "I'm a little scared. That's the real reason I sent my patronus out without specific direction. It's sort of like a message in a bottle, really. There's no one I can really confide in about these things, given my situation. It's summer now, but I haven't gone home. But Mum and Dad won't notice that I never came back. I've taken up residence in a little room above George's shop on Diagon Alley, where I am free to experiment without question, as long as I work to earn my keep." At the name, Fred's eyes widened slightly. "After seeing the memorial in the Great Hall my first year, I became increasingly curious about the names. Several of them stood out right away. I've always been interested in the 1990's, and the names were begging to be remembered. I asked George about some of the names, and the look on his face… I could see how much he was hurting inside. He knew these people. But he told me anyways. Every detail of the battle, as far as he remembers it. He told me about the people he knew, too. Those who were lost in that battle…" She coughed again. Every eye was trained on the little patronus. No one blinked. No one breathed. "I've found through my experiments that the ring is tied to life itself. I know what will happen if I make a mistake. I know all of the ways this can go wrong. I know the consequences, even if I succeed. But… I want to see that smile that was lost so many years ago. Roxie told me that George lost a part of himself when he lost his brother. I want to bring that missing piece back. To whoever receives my message, I only pray that you are never taken in like I was. May you never fall for a mischievous smile, and follow your own foolish curiosity."  
The fox patronus sat silent. Those gathered did not move as they let the message settle. It was a bit unclear in places, as though the speaker were very nervous. Her voice had been shaky towards the end, as though it would break, but the message was strong. It was Fred who finally broke the silence.  
"What do we do?"  
"There's nothing we _can_ do," Remus said, shaking his head. "Only pray that she comes to her senses before she does something she'll regret."  
"She sounds ill," James said. "The girl needs to rest."  
"She needs help," Lily said. "Everyone knows how dangerous it is to play with life and death."  
"We're _dead_, Lily," Sirius said. "There is absolutely nothing we can do to help her. Not unless we were able to cross back into the land of the living. And we know that that's impossible."  
"Oh, it's very much possible," Gideon said with a grin.  
"What did you think that explosion was for?" Fabian asked.  
"Fun as it is to blow things up," Fred said, "I don't think it'll do the girl any good."  
"It wasn't supposed to explode, actually," Gideon explained.  
"I think we used a little too much fireweed," Fabian added. The two discussed ways to make their ideas work as 'Dora and the others offered suggestions. Lily put a hand on Fred's shoulder.  
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly. "You look a little pale." Fred turned his brown eyes to Lily's kind green ones. "You don't really think she was talking about your brother, do you?"  
"How many George's can there possibly be who own a shop on Diagon Alley and lost a brother to the War?" Lily didn't respond. "I'm worried about him, Lily. It's been half a century since the War, and he still hasn't gotten over it."  
"When you lose someone precious, you don't just 'get over it', Fred. And you know that it tortures us to see those we left behind suffer. But they can't see us, and we can't tell them that we're okay. All we can do is wait for them to join us."  
Fred sighed, defeated. "I wish there were more options."  
"Of course!" James exclaimed. "May 2nd!"  
"What does our deathday have to do with the solution?" 'Dora asked.  
"That's the only day she can succeed," Remus explained. "The girl wants to bring him back, but she has yet to succeed. She can only bring him back on the day he died."  
"What are you all talking about?" Lily asked.  
"Fred," Gideon and Fabian chorused.  
"What about me?" the redhead asked.  
"That girl is trying to bring you back," Sirius explained. "When she said she wanted to bring back the missing piece, she meant you." Fred blinked.  
"You're joking, right?" The dark-haired man shook his head.  
"We're quite sure about this," Remus said.  
"She's close to getting it by now," 'Dora said. "She's been at it for months."  
"But the spell has to be done correctly on the day you died," James added. "Otherwise, there's no chance it'll work."  
"There's no way it can work anyways," Sirius said. "Even the Resurrection Stone can't bring someone back to life. James, Sirius, Remus, you _know_ that. If a Hallow can't do it, then there's no way!"  
"But what if her artifact _is_ the Hallow?" Lily asked. "She said it was a ring, and that she found it in the Forbidden Forest. If you remember, that's where Harry dropped the Resurrection Stone fifty years ago."  
"But if she _has_ found it, she can only bring his soul back," Gideon noted.  
"Unless," Fabian continued, "she's found a spell or potion that adds to the power of the Stone, thus giving the resurrected a body."  
"Even if she's found all that," Remus said, "She's in school now."  
"She could've dropped out," Fred supplied. "George and I did."  
"Maybe she was expelled," Gideon said with a grin.  
"For using Dark magic," Fabian added solemnly, before both burst out laughing.  
"I wonder why George has taken her in," James mused.  
"He's got a big heart," Fred said. "Even if he won't always admit it."  
"I bet she's paying rent for that room of hers," Sirius said with a smirk. "George is a businessman after all."  
"Oh, I wouldn't doubt—" The world lurched suddenly beneath the gathered souls and an all too familiar white light filled the room. A shout was heard, accompanied by a loud crack. Fred felt his stomach twist, as it had when he'd first learned to apparate, and something yanked painfully at his heart. He screamed as the pain intensified.

"Fred!" Lily's voice rang out. "Where's Fred?"  
"He's gone!" Gideon or Fabian—he couldn't tell which—exclaimed.  
"Unbelievable!" cried the other, as Lily, James, and 'Dora called the redhead's name.  
"But where could he have gone?" Remus asked.  
"_No!_" yelled a voice Fred could not place. "No no no no _no!_ It can't go wrong _now!_ I'm so close!"

Fred felt himself falling. A sharp pain in his rear told him that he had landed on something solid. Every inch of his skin tingled painfully, like the pins and needles feeling you get when your leg has been asleep. Every muscle in his body ached, and the buzzing in his ears was deafening. His eyes burned in the blinding white light that had enveloped him. As the light faded from his eyes, Fred realized that he was sitting on the wooden floor of a small bedroom. Boxes were stacked everywhere in the little room and strange bottles covered half of the writing desk by the window. The other half was covered with bits of parchment. The bed beside him was left unmade. Clothes were tangled in the sheets and strewn haphazardly about the room. Several shirts were scorched. Stacks of books lined the walls, with several loose volumes piled open in the middle of the room, among various odds and ends. A large magenta poster hung on one wall with fireworks exploding around three large W's, and a Skiving Snackbox lay open in the middle of the room beside a small cauldron and the open books. A pale girl with unkempt blond hair knelt beside the cauldron, swearing.

"Every time I get close, it goes all to shards! I really thought I had it this time, too!" Fred blinked at the girl, who was too thin and covered in soot. Something green was smeared across one cheek. She sounded dreadfully familiar.  
"What went wrong?" he asked, curious. The girl nearly fell over as she spun about to face him. Her eyes widened momentarily, and then she let out a breath, clearly relieved.  
"George," she said her voice weak. "You startled me. You should warn me if you're going to show up out of nowhere like that." Fred frowned.  
"Blimey," he said. "Dead for half a century and _still_ mistaken for my brother! How many de-aging potions would he have to drink to look like this again, anyways?" The girl squinted at him, then her eyes widened.  
"Dumbledore's specs," she squeaked. "I just summoned a ghost." Fred looked at his hands. They were solid.  
"If I were a ghost," he said quietly, "you would be able to see right through me."  
"Oh, that's right." The girl laughed feebly. Fred recognized the laugh. He had heard it, and the girl's voice, not ten minutes before in the White Room, coming from the mouth of a small silver fox.  
"You!" he exclaimed. "You're the girl who sent the patronus! The little fox!"  
"You know about my patronus?" the girl asked, surprised. "But you're… you were dead! How could you possibly—?"  
"It found us. In the place where good souls enter into the afterlife. You're barmy for thinking you can bring back the dead, you know. If you're brilliant enough to send a message through your patronus, you should know that it's impossible." The girl crawled forward and sat herself across from Fred.  
"Impossible?" Something barely contained shivered in her voice. "Are you…? Are you really Fred Weasley, George's brother?"  
"'Course," Fred replied. "Who else would I be? I may be dead, but that doesn't change who I am." The girl reached out a trembling hand and touched his cheek. Her fingers were cold.  
"No," she said, gazing at him with eyes that were nearly empty, as though there were no one behind them. Fred felt realization shoot through him and feared what he knew she was about to say.  
"You're alive."

* * *

A/N: Yes, 'Dora is Tonks. She will be referred to as Tonks in following chapters.

So, what do you think so far? Please let me know! Constructive criticism is welcome, but no flames, because those are annoying and really don't do any good. If you want to vent your annoyance, do it in your livejournal or something.


	2. Chapter 1

Title: Second Chances

Notes: Oh boy, this one was fun to write. And it managed to get finished despite my writer's block! Don't ask me how that happened. I'm not quite sure yet.  
I love my beta-reader. She comes up with some of the coolest things. Credit to her awesomeness! 3  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or any of the HP characters in this chapter. I own Emma, Jeremy and Jessica, and this story.

Chapter 1: Life After Death

_"If you can get away with it, great." –Gail Carson Levine_

"How can he be gone?" exclaimed Nymphadora Tonks, her hair turning a very painful shade of bubblegum pink. "There's only one way out of this room!"  
"Calm down, 'Dora," Remus said, running a hand through his scruffy blond hair. "I'm sure Fred's fine."  
"Fine my arse!" Tonks all but shouted.  
"Remus is right, Tonks," Sirius said. "Fred's a big boy, he can take care of himself."  
"Not without seriously ticking someone off," chorused the almost identical redheads, grinning.  
"Gideon! Fabian!"  
"Relax Lily," James said calmly, adjusting his glasses. "They're only teasing." Lily sighed, emerald eyes downcast.  
"I guess you're right, James."  
"So, what are we going to do about Fred?" Tonks asked, all business.  
"First," said Sirius, "we find him."  
"That's easy," said Fabian. "I think he's on the other side."  
"I think Fab's right," Gideon agreed. "That's the same light we saw when we died."  
"Well, actually," Fabian stated, "the light _we_ saw was green, thanks to all of those killing curses zipping around us."  
"Though it _was_ white at the very end, just before we passed on," Gideon finished.  
"That's rubbish," Lily said. "He can't have gone to the other side. Once you cross over, there's no going back. Everyone knows that."  
"That light only comes when someone crosses between life and death," Sirius said matter-of-factly. "Since there is no new soul here, it makes sense to think that Fred went back."  
"I'm afraid I have to agree with Sirius," Remus stated. "Impossible though it may seem, it appears that Fred going back is our only explanation."  
"That really irks my pickle," Tonks said with a frown.  
"Guys?" James asked. "Where's the patronus?" The seven souls looked around the White Room, but the silvery fox who had brought the girl's message was gone.  
"It must be with Fred," Sirius said. "Or gone back to the girl."  
"How did she get it to take a message like that?" Remus wondered. "Only Order members know how to do that."  
"Apparently not, if she succeeded," Tonks said.  
"Forget the patronus," Lily said. "What in Heaven's name are we going to do about Fred?"  
"Simple," Sirius replied. "We wait for him to join us." Before Lily could protest, Fabian cut in.  
"If he's on the other side, there's nothing we can do." His voice was airy and light, almost careless.  
"Exactly," Gideon agreed, his tone matching his brother's. "Unless we find a way to return ourselves, we're in no position to help Fred."  
"But if he's still here—" Lily began.  
"If he's still here, he'll find us," James interrupted.  
"There's got to be something—!" Lily insisted, though she sounded less convinced than before.  
"Oh, there's always a loophole," Gideon and Fabian chorused, identically wicked grins spreading across their faces. Lily looked uneasy as she stared at the twins. She had known them in life, and had known how reckless they both were. Finally, she nodded.  
"Alright. Let's get to work, then."

* * *

Fred stared at the pale-faced girl before him, as though she were the one who had been dead fifty years and suddenly returned to life. To say that he was shocked at the news that he was alive again would be an enormous understatement.  
"I can't be alive," he said, voice barely audible and quivering slightly. "It's been fifty years. People don't just come back to life after fifty years!"  
"Not of their own volition, they don't," the girl snorted, looking at him curiously. It almost seemed as though she were not quite sure he was really there.  
"Not at all!" Fred protested.  
"You don't want to see George?" she asked, tilting her head like a confused puppy.  
"I— of course I want to see him! He's my brother. My twin! But I died so long ago. I'm not supposed to be here."  
"If you had no purpose here, you would not have come back." In that instant, the girl reminded Fred very much of Luna Lovegood—she had the same irritating ability to make sense out of nonsense. "Even with—" the girl gave way to a violent fit of coughing. A small silvery fox rubbed up against her, then faded suddenly as the door burst open. A dark-skinned woman with long black braids picked the girl up and placed her in the bed. The woman looked strong, but the deep laugh lines around her mouth and eyes suggested kindness and a good sense of humor. Fred noticed that her hair was tinged with gray.  
"I told you to rest," the woman said, covering the pale girl with a magenta and maroon checkered quilt. "You'll never get better if you keep this up, and you know it."  
"I'm fine," the girl protested. "I'm not sick!"  
"Oh?" the woman asked, a hint of playful sarcasm in her voice. "You look like death itself all the time, then? Emma, you can't push yourself like this." The woman turned and froze when she saw Fred. He saw several emotions cross the woman's face; first surprise, then confusion, then anger, followed by shock, and finally stopping at relief. Fred was surprised to see so many emotions in one place in suck a short amount of time. He was about to comment on the fact that it was probably a world record, when the woman spoke.  
"George, she hasn't got you using a de-aging potion again, has she? I though you were done with those things after what happened last time." Fred started at her for a moment. Suddenly, a light bulb blinked on over his until-recently-empty head.  
"Angelina?"  
"Who else would I be?" the woman asked, giving Fred a funny look. Age had changed her, but not so much that he couldn't recognize his ex-girlfriend and former teammate, even if he almost hadn't.  
"You of all people should know George better than that," the redhead said, grinning widely. "Cant you tell I'm Fred?" Angelina glared at him.  
"Is this some strange way of coping? I really don't see the need for it. You gave in to the fact that he's not coming back years ago. Doing this now is unhealthy, George."  
"That's not George," the girl, Emma, croaked. "You took all of my de-aging potions away last month, remember? My experiment was a success, Angie. That's really Fred."  
"Bollux," Angelina said. "Fred died fifty years ago. He couldn't come back if he'd been dead a week, let alone fifty years! Don't tell me he couldn't have got here in time, either, because I heard him apparate." The door opened once more, revealing a man with silvery red hair and a short-haired woman who looked quite like a younger version of Angelina.  
"What's all this noise about?" the woman asked. "We can hear you lot all the way down the hall, Mum, and I've only just got Chrissie to sleep."  
"It's not exactly hard, Roxanne," Angelina said. "Thank heavens your Dad put up those Soundproof charms when you were born, or the customers would hear us downstairs. Speaking of, shouldn't you two be working now?"  
"We came upstairs to get more Extendable Ears," said the man, who was, ironically enough, missing his right ear. "Everything from the early years sells out pretty fast, you know. Anyways, we heard you lecturing Emma, and thought we'd see what all the fuss was about. And don't worry about the shop, Angie, Freddie's minding."  
"George, I wasn't lecturing Em," Angelina replied. "I was talking to y—" Her dark eyes widened and she looked from Fred to George, not quite sure what she was seeing. George noticed and followed his wife's gaze to his former duplicate, who stood now gazing back in amazement. Angelina looked anxious, almost scared, while Roxanne stared at the two men in shock. Emma watched them with a nervous kind of excitement. The silence in the room stretched on, threatening to deafen them.  
"You know," Fred said at length, smirking. "You look pretty good for seventy, St. Georgie-boy."  
George stared at him, his eyes widening. "It can't be... F-Fred?"  
"Right in one!" he said, grinning manically.  
"FRED!" George grinned and ran towards him, hugging his no-longer-identical twin.  
"Took ya long enough, mate! Oy, you'd better not start crying on me."  
"You're the one who took too long. Blimey, why'd you wait fifty years?"  
"Had some business to take care of. Why else would I be gone so long?"  
Roxanne shot a look at Emma, who was beaming.  
"So how many did it take?" she asked.  
"Only one," Emma replied. "Just like you said, Roxie. It took a whole bottle of Elthiak venom to get it to the right consistency, though. But it's nearly impossible to find one dead, what with them living so long and all. They're rare enough alive, and so few people can see them. I bribed the corpse off of Kothery last month. Didn't know they could die until he showed it to me."  
"Everything has do die someday," Roxanne said.  
"It seems it can be brought back, too," Emma replied, looking at Fred and George, who now sported identical grins. She smiled.

* * *

"What a boring case." The young man yawned and ran a hand through his messy light brown hair. He stood in a crowded street in London, leaning against a light post. No one thought it strange that he wore sunglasses at dusk, for no one really noticed him. A beautiful woman with wavy brown hair and sunglasses exactly matching his walked into the pub across the street, the Leaky Cauldron. As they had not noticed him before, the people on the street did not notice him now as he followed the woman inside. The two sat in a dark corner of the pub and removed their identical sunglasses, revealing their identically disturbing turquoise eyes. Anyone who saw them together could see the resemblance of the brother and sister.  
"Anything interesting?" the woman asked. Her brother shook his head.  
"You'd think wizarding court would be interesting, but it's always the same thing—smugglers, black market dealers, possessors of illegal items. We haven't had so much as a Blue Moon in ages, and heaven knows there are enough of them."  
"Things are too safe these days," the woman sighed. "I wish we'd been born earlier, Jeremy. I really do. Life was so interesting when our parents were born. Everywhere you looked, Death Eaters and great wizards and fame in the making. Oh, what I wouldn't do to have been there, to see a great war, to be a part of it!"  
"We can't go back in time, Jess," her brother said. "You know that it's impossible."  
"I know. But I can still dream."  
"So, what did Lawler say?"  
"Oh, him. It didn't take any convincing to get him to join our cause. He's absolutely barmy, that one, but he's with us. What about that kid with the bad attitude? What was his name?"  
"Peterson. He's in, too." Jeremy smiled. "He's quite the little liar. He's got everyone fooled into thinking he's happy about Article 762. His own family doesn't know how he really feels about it." Jessica made a face.  
"From what I've heard, I don't blame him. So, did it pass?"  
"Just this morning, actually. Brimms will speak with the Muggle Prime Minister this afternoon. A lot of Muggles already know, what with the mixed marriages and befriending witches and wizards that's been going on the past twenty years. It's becoming more common every day, so the transition should be pretty easy. But…"  
"But?"  
"It will take more than a new policy to break the Statute of Secrecy, Jessica. It's hundreds of years old, and it was put in place for a reason."  
"A reason which no longer applies," his sister said. "We know it'll take a while, Jem. But now that it's finally started, there's no turning back. Once the Statute of Secrecy is broken, we can begin the second phase."  
Jessica and Jeremy Drake shared a smile across their dark little corner table. Things were finally changing.

* * *

"You're bloody lunatics," Lily announced.  
"Thank you," chorused Gideon and Fabian with matching grins.  
"How exactly is this supposed to help?"  
"Take too long to explain," Fabian noted.  
"Very complicated," Gideon added, rubbing his large nose. The flame-haired twins were surrounded with bottles and jars and books, mixing things in various containers and casting the occasional charm on the contents of one jar or another. A cauldron full of bubbling purple goop sat between them.  
"I really don't see how this will do us any good," Tonks added.  
"That girl used a potion to take Fred back to the Land of the Living," Gideon said.  
"If she can do that, then we figure we can use a potion to bring him back," Fabian added.  
"But she had the Resurrection Stone," Remus said. "The girl had use of a Hallow."  
"Supposedly," Lily cut it. "She had an _artifact_. It could be anything, really."  
"Not just anything is tied to life itself," James said, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder. "The Hallow is the only thing I can think of that makes any sense."  
"I say we just ask to go down and retrieve our little lost sheep," Sirius suggested. "It would be a lot easier, and you know how Death hates losing even one soul. Greedy ba—"  
"He wouldn't let us go," Remus replied, cutting off his dark friend. "He may not be happy about losing Fred, but he wouldn't send us to get him."  
"Exactly," Fabian said, carefully measuring from a jar of dried leaves. "We'll take care of this ourselves."  
"And what if it doesn't work?" Lily demanded.  
"So pessimistic!" Gideon said. "Lil, you should stop worrying your little head off and relax. We'll take care of little Freddie."  
"That's what worries me."  
"We never corrupted our nephews," Fabian protested.  
"'Course, we only barely knew Bill and Charlie," Gideon said. "Percy was on the way, last we saw Mol'."  
"Poor girl's had it bad. First her friends, then her brothers, then one of her sons. She's really lost a lot, our Molly."  
"Dreadful, really. When she gets here, Molly'll beat us all for being so reckless." The twins grinned at the thought of seeing their younger sister.  
"Everyone was hit hard by the Wars," Remus noted. "It's still a little soon to talk about it."  
"Blimey," Sirius muttered. "It's been fifty years already, Remus. If we can't talk about it now, when can we? In another fifty years?"  
"Let's talk about something a bit less dismal, shall we?" Tonks suggested. "Like what we'll do once Fab and Gid have figured out how to get back to the living world."  
"One or two of us will go back, of course," Gideon said.  
"No more than that, though," Fabian added, "Or people will start getting suspicious."  
"Tonks, you'd stand out too much. Metamorphmagi are pretty rare, and if your hair changes color in the middle of the street, someone's bound to notice."  
"For that matter, James would most definitely snag unwanted attention, what with Harry walking around looking just like him."  
"Sirius had his face plastered all over the UK, and probably a few other countries, back in the 90's. A lot of people would recognize him, so he's out, too."  
"That leaves four of us—"  
"And you two look too much like Weasleys not to get recognized," Tonks cut in with a smirk.  
"We're not—" the twins started.  
"Red hair and freckles stand out," Sirius added.  
"And you two do look and awful lot like your nephews," James continued.  
"Not our fault," Gideon said.  
"And _they_ look like _us_," Fabian added.  
"But the uncanny resemblance is problematic," Remus said. "And this girl said that she was staying with George and his family."  
"Remus and I can go," Lily said. "We won't be easily recognizable."  
"I disagree," Remus stated. "I will be very recognizable if George is involved. I was his teacher for a year."  
"Then I'll go alone."  
"Afraid not, Lily," James said. "You'd have trouble blending in. Besides, I know you'd want to see Harry."  
"Then who can go?" Lily asked, frustration bubbling inside her.  
"We can," Fabian said.  
"How?"  
"Weasley twins," the thinner of the two redheads said with a smile. "Merlin knows there are loads of them. No one will question us."  
"Absolutely brilliant!" Gideon exclaimed with a wide grin. "I'm proud to call you my twin, Fab."  
"Likewise, Gid."  
"You can't exactly go anywhere until you've figured out how to get to the living world and back," Sirius noted.  
"We're working on it," Fabian protested.  
"It shouldn't take too long," Gideon continued.  
"I still think you're both loony for trying potions," Lily muttered.  
"Can we focus on the reason for the lunacy?" Tonks asked. "We all seem to be experts at getting off topic."  
"Right," Remus agreed. "We've got to think about Fred. We're doing this for him, after all."  
"And where, may I ask, _is_ that trouble-maker?" asked a gruff voice from the doorway. The deceased Order members turned to see a scarred and stern-looking man with a madly spinning electric blue eye, which gazed at each of them in turn as well as everything else in the room. Fabian and Gideon grinned.  
"Long time, no see, Al," Gideon said.  
"How've you been lately?" Fabian asked.  
"Stuff it, Prewett," the gruff man said. "Where's Fred?"  
"Er…" The twins shared a nervous look. They all knew that Alastor Moody was no fool. They were busted.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter finished! I really had fun with this one, even though Jess and Jem were difficult.  
Jessica: We are not difficult!  
Jeremy: Sorry, Jess, but you're _very_ difficult.  
Jessica: Loser.  
Actually, it was mostly because it was really hard to come up with both of you. Anyways, I really loved writing Gideon and Fabian(if you couldn't tell). They're pretty easy to write, and they're so much fun!  
Gideon: Why thank you!  
Fabian: We love you, too.  
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please review!


	3. Chapter 2

Title: Second Chances

Notes: This chapter took forever to write! I got stuck in two places. Much awesomeness to Starkiller, who helped me out of both fixes! (Go read her story Twin Vice Paranormal Detectives!)  
Love to my betareader, who always finds what's wrong with my story before I do. She was awesome with this chapter, which had a lot of things that didn't make sense before I sent it to her.  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or any of the HP characters in this chapter. I own Emma, Jeremy and Jessica, and this story.

Chapter 2: Haunting History

_"Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are worst for them." –Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

After several minutes, Roxanne reminded George that he couldn't leave his son to mind the shop alone. It was nearly half an hour before he would let go of his twin, and Angelina had to drag him out of the room by his ear.  
"Why aren't you in St. Mungo's?" Fred asked after George and Angelina had left the room, not even attempting tact. Emma frowned.  
"Only sick people go there," she replied curtly, running a brush through her limp hair.  
"Angie says you were there before you started school."  
"I was discharged. There's nothing wrong with me."  
"That's not what I heard," Fred taunted. Emma narrowed her eyes at him, arm frozen mid-stroke.  
"What did you hear?" she asked carefully. Fred knew a loaded question when he heard one, but curiosity seemed to have beaten his common sense and left it tied up in a closet.  
"Only that you've gotsome disease that not only shortens your life significantly, it is also undiscovered, and therefore incurable." He barely dodged the brush, which nicked his ear as it flew past.  
"You're pretty violent for a girl," Fred commented.  
"I have bigger things to throw," Emma warned.  
"Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"  
"My parents?" Emma's eyes darkened. "Anything they had to teach wasn't worth learning." Fred blinked, realization in his face.  
"Oh, you had a bad childhood."  
"Bad doesn't begin to describe it."  
"Did the other kids pick on you?"  
"It has nothing to do with other kids."  
"You're just defending them because they said they were your friends."  
"That's not it!" Emma's face was flushed, and her voice continued to rise.  
"Why are you defending them? They probably threatened to do terrible things to you, too." Fred nodded gravely, satisfied that he knew the story.  
"_I didn't have any friends!_" Emma shouted, causing Fred to jump. "My parents wouldn't let me leave the house until I started school, and I barely even saw _them_!"  
"You had to've made friends at school, Em. Even Draco Malfoy had friends. Wait, you wouldn't know him. Malfoy was a slimy git."  
"I didn't make friends, you presumptuous jerk. Everyone in my house hated my guts for being different from them, and everyone else hated me for where I'd been placed."  
"That's impossible."  
"Says you. Even the most disliked of the students had friends when you were at Hogwarts. I was neglected at home and openly ostracized at school. What part of 'alone' didn't you get from that?"  
"You never said 'alone'," Fred said quietly.  
"I didn't think I needed to. Are you really that thick?"  
"I'm not thick. You're vague. I'm going to find the loo." Fred left the room, not giving Emma a chance to reply.

_

* * *

_

"I'm sorry."

_A group of boys with a ball stared at the small child with the curious eyes, game forgotten.  
__"Can I play?" the little boy asked, not for the first time.  
__"Sorry," said one of the older boys. "No freaks allowed." The other boys laughed._

Jeremy stopped and closed his eyes. He could not stop the flood of memories.

The words echoed from a distant place, as though they were the remnant of a bad dream. Jeremy hated those words. They brought painful memories to the surface of his consciousness, things he tried not to think about. But as he wandered the streets of London, the images came unbidden at the sound.

_"Sorry, our group is full," a young girl with brown hair stated. "You can always mix the potion by yourself, you know."_

He tried to think of Hogwarts, his favorite place in the world.

_"I'm sorry?" and older girl asked, unable to mask her surprise.  
__"You don't have to," a young man with curious bright eyes said quickly. "but, if you want to go…"  
__"I've already got a date. I'm sorry."_

"Stop," Jem whispered. "Please stop."

_"I'm sorry."  
__"No way, loser!"  
__"I'm sorry, Jem."  
__"That sounds like fun."_

Jem opened his eyes, blinking at the busy street through his dark sunglasses. He turned to see that he was standing in front of the Leaky Cauldron. Slipping inside his favorite pub, he hid himself in the corner with a sigh of relief. Hearing breakups and let-downs always triggered painful images of the past. As he closed his eyes and took a calming breath, another image overtook him. This time, a young woman with long chestnut hair. Her name was Sarah.

_She was the only girl, aside from Jessica, who wasn't' disturbed by his bright turquoise eyes. To Jeremy's surprise, Sarah liked his unusual eyes. She had not hesitated when he'd asked her to the movies for the first time, and it had been her idea that they go steady. Now, two years later, Jem was planning to propose.  
__"What if she leaves you when she finds out that you're a wizard?" Jessica asked her twin.  
__"She won't leave me," Jeremy protested. "Sarah loves me and I love her. She'll understand."  
__"But what if she does leave, Jem? You'll get hurt, like I did." There was worry in his sister's eyes.  
__"I'll be fine, Jess. Not all of them are jerks like Ian, you know. Plenty of wizardfolk marry muggles, and it works out just fine for them."  
__"I know," Jessica looked down. "Not everyone is like Ian." She met her twin's gaze with matching turquoise eyes. When together, they were almost perfectly identical. "If she hurts you, Jem, I'll—"  
__"You won't touch Sarah. I don't care if she does hurt me someday, you will not hurt her, and I don't want you to jinx or curse her, either."  
__"I won't. I promise. But I will make her regret it."  
__Jeremy told Sarah the next day. At first, she had not believed. She had laughed, a beautiful, ringing laughter. He had shown her proof, and her laughter stopped abruptly. The moment of silence seemed to last a lifetime before she moved. Her lips moved slightly, whispering a single word, and something broke. She ran, not once turning back, leaving that single word to echo more coldly than anything Jeremy had ever felt before. With that word, he knew that his sister had been right, that they would never understand. That word changed everything.  
__"Monster."_

* * *

"Well?" Alastor Moody demanded, magical eye swiveling. "Where's Fred?"  
"Gone," Sirius stated, as though he had been asked where the nearest loo was located.  
"Gone?" Moody repeated.  
"Taken against his will is more like it," James supplied.  
"By whom?"  
"A mortal girl," Remus said. "We don't know her name, but she somehow succeeded in bringing Fred back to life."  
"After fifty years? Remus, you know that's not possible."  
"It is our only explanation, Mad-Eye."  
"Then how did she do it?"  
"Potion." "Artifact," came from the twins, who then said in unison, "Some combination of the two."  
"We think it's the Resurrection Stone," Tonks added.  
"If that were the case," Lily stated, "Then Fred would only be there for a short while, and he wouldn't be alive."  
"But a potion--" Fabian started.  
"--could fix that," Gideon finished.  
Moody nodded. "And I supposed," he growled, "that you lot are planning to go charging back to the mortal plane to bring Fred heroically back to the afterlife."  
"No," said Gideon. "Just me--"  
"--and me," Fabian finished. Moody gazed at the bubbling cauldron between the twins.  
"Try a bit of Yew Hair," he said. The twins grinned and Lily groaned.  
"Alastor, please don't encourage them," she begged. "There's no way that Fred's alive down there. We all know it isn't possible."  
"That doesn't change the fact that Master Death will come for us first when he finds that Fred is gone."  
"If we explain things, I'm sure he'll--"  
"Mad-Eye's right," Tonks said. "That old hard-nose won't care for the how or why. I personally don't want to be around when he finds out he's lost a soul."  
"So," Remus added, "it's best if he doesn't find out."  
"Exactly," Moody agreed.  
"Which is why we're going to bring him back," Gideon and Fabian chorused.  
"Yew hair," Moody said. "Fabian, go fetch some. We won't need much." The thinner of the twins stood and left the workroom.

Fabian filled a small vial with glowing silvery-white sap from the enormous yew tree in the garden. For a moment, the garden faded. In the misty white space, there was nothing. Fabian blinked and a young woman stood before him. She smiled and laughed, a natural sound, though the echo of the space made the sound pretty and ethereal. Her eyes were green. No, he thought, they're blue. Or were they brown? She was playing tricks on him. Fabian swore, which the young woman found highly amusing. The redhead blinked again, and he was back in the garden. The woman was gone. He shook his head and ran back to the workroom.

"Trees don't have hair," Sirius commented.  
"It's not really hair," Lily replied. "Yew Hair is a magical substance produced by yew trees whenever something unnatural occurs relating to life and death."  
"Like when a vampire or werewolf is created," Remus supplied.  
"Yes," Lily nodded. "Or a ghost."  
"Yew Hair is silvery-white in color," Moody explained. "It's a very oozy substance, and can only be seen by those with magic in them, or those who are close to the Border between life and death."  
"So this stuff will open the Gate?" Tonks asked.  
"It might. Yew Hair is highly unpredictable."  
"I've got it!" Fabian called, entering the room. Gideon added the faintly glowing liquid to their bubbling cauldron. Everyone watched the potion, happily bubbling away, for several minutes as it changed color.  
"Maybe you should drink it," James suggested, breaking the silence. The twins looked at each other, shrugged, and produced two glasses. They filled the vessels and linked arms.  
"Bottoms up!" they chorused cheerfully, downing the contents of the glasses.

* * *

Fred wandered down the stairs into the now-empty shop. Not much had changed in the fifty years since he'd last been there, except that there were quite a few products on the shelves which he didn't recognize. He stopped by a box labeled Voice Boxes. It was empty.  
"They're like caramel cubes," said George behind him. "But they change your voice at random for the next few hours. They're color coded by the type of change, but it's pretty random other than that, so you never really know what you'll get." He grinned. "We had one poor bloke just yesterday who took a yellow one—that changes the pitch—and wound up with a squeaky little girl's voice." Fred returned his twin's grin.  
"And everyone thought _I_ was the brains."  
"You were definitely the nerve."  
"You had a lot of nerve, too, George. Just not as much as me."  
"You were the leader from birth, Fred, admit it. you were even born first."  
"Well, that's true. But even so, you were the one who got the girl in the end." George gave his twin a curious look.  
"What do you mean?" he asked. "We never dated the same girls, Fred. We never even liked the same girls."  
"But you married Angelina," Fred said, a little confused himself. "You've got two kids, from what I've heard."  
"What on earth?" George laughed. "Me and Angie? That'd never work, Fred!"  
"But you're living together. Don't tell me you're--"  
"No! We're not together at all. She's in a separate room. Angie's only staying here temporarily. She hated being in her house alone, so she came here.  
"Alright," Fred said, sitting on the front counter of the joke shop. "You've got my full and undivided attention, Georgie. Start explaining. What happened to you and Angelina? Don't play games, either, because I don't see a Mrs. George Weasley anywhere." George smiled.  
"Me and Verity split up years ago, Fred. I think I was 27 when I knew it was over."  
"Knew what was over?" Fred inquired.  
"The marriage."  
"You married Verity?"  
"Yeah. Freddie's her son. But it didn't work out. She couldn't handle things, I guess. The divorce was pretty messy, too. Took us nearly two and a half years to sort things out after it went bad. Freddie turned out just fine, thankfully. He's a lot like you."  
"Sounds like it. He raised his kids well, too. And they're raising their kids well. Merlin's beard, that makes me feel old."  
"You think you feel old? Fred, my grandkids have children. You died when we were still twenty."  
"Yeah, but I still feel old. So... what about Angie? What happened to her?" There was something akin to concern in his voice. George decided that it was a distant relative of the emotion, perhaps a third or fourth cousin.  
"Angie's just staying here for a few weeks while Lee's in France. He's commentating a set of Quidditch matches in Carcasonne. Michael, Roxie's husband, went with him."  
"Wait, back up George. Did you say Lee? As in Lee Jordan?"  
"Yeah. I thought you'd know, since you knew about Fred. Angelina married Lee a few years before she left the Hollyhead Harpies."  
"Harpies, huh? Suits her pretty well. And it figures Angie'd play professional Quidditch. What about Lee?"  
"Lee commentated for a while. Still does, from time to time. That's how they got together, actually. And he still does that radio show he started back during the last War. We all get together and listen when it's on."  
"I remember that. We all used code names during the War, and we said what no one else had the balls to say. It's still going?"  
"Well, it's not the same as it was back then. Lee does mostly music now, though he still rags on the Ministry when they do something stupid. They ignore him these days."  
"Of course. So, to sum up the last fifty years, you married Verity, had a kid, then split up and raised him yourself--"  
"Actually, I took Fred to the Burrow and had Mum and Hermione help."  
"Right. Anyways, Angelina marries Lee, they have a kid, and they're still together."  
"Right."  
"Who all have you got living here, anyways, George? Last I was here, there were only a couple of rooms, and even the room we slept in was full of inventory."  
"We've cleaned up a bit since then. There's a storage shed out back, where we keep most of our inventory. Though you've probably noticed that Emma's room is still a mess."  
"'Course I noticed."  
"Right. Anyway, it's just me and Emma who live here full-time, but the rest of the family, plus Angie and Lee and their brood, are always in and out, and half of them work here anyways, so we added a couple more rooms a while back."  
"Blimey, reminds you of the old days, doesn't it?" Fred smiled. "A lot like how things were at the Burrow." George returned his brother's grin.  
"A piece of the peaceful past," he agreed.  
"But..." Fred paused a moment before continuing, a strange expression on his face. "What happens now?"

* * *

A/N: And it's done! This chapter was really hard to write, especially the first and last sections. This chapter went through a lot of changes, major and minor, but it's finally written, and I can start on Chapter 3.  
Gideon: Hey, are we ever gonna get to the living world?  
Fabian: Of course we'll get there, Gid. It's just a matter of time. After all, our author likes to drag things out.  
Do not! I just don't like doing things too early.  
Anyways, I'm really excited for the next chapter. I've got some fun things planned for Ch. 3, so I'll try not to take too long getting it up. Review and let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 3

Title: Second Chances

Notes: This one really took a while to get through. There was a lot to work out, but I got it. There's actually still a lot going on and the plot is starting to fall into place.  
Wow, this chapter is shorter than the others.  
More notes at the end(don't wanna spoil anything here)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or any of the HP characters in this chapter. I own Emma, Jeremy and Jessica, and this story. See other disclaimer at end.

Chapter 3: The Weight of Success

"_The weight of failure is not as heavy a burden as the weight of success." –Luna Lovegood (_The Prophet,_ 2007, during an interview)_

It had only been a day since Norbert Brimms, Minister of Magic, had spoken to the muggle Prime Minister about the Statute of Secrecy, and things were already beginning to change. Jessica, alone in her London flat, smiled to herself. Everything was falling into place, exactly as she and Jem had planned. She glanced at the glass of wine in front of her, thoughtfully tracing the rim with a slender finger.  
The first phase was simple, really—break the Statute of Secrecy. Once muggles knew about Wizardkind again, it would not be hard to plant the seeds of suspicion in the hearts of the wizarding community. Especially the conservative purebloods. Of course, that would last through the next phase, where Jem would play his part.  
Jem was the key, really. He had risen in the Ministry to the position of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister in a relatively short time, and held quite a lot of power. Jess needed that power to raise Jeremy to Minister of Magic. As he climbed ranks, Jessica would spread discontent among the wizards. Once they were unhappy, she would spread wicked rumours among the muggles, causing them to distrust anyone with magic. And then they would rise up against Wizardkind, just as they had in the old days.  
"And here is the truly wicked part," Jess muttered to herself with a smirk. "When the muggles rise against us, reinstating the Statute of Secrecy won't work again. The only option? Enslave the muggles. The discontented wizardfolk will jump on the idea, and those condescending rats we call muggles will learn better than to treat us like garbage when they're the ones on the low end of things. They will learn to respect us." She sighed. It would take a long time for her plan to succeed. As she finished her wine, she wondered how long before she could place her brother in the seat of the Minister.

* * *

The reaction was not immediate. Fabian sighed, feeling defeated, when nothing happened at all. Gideon glared at the potion, still bubbling merrily in the cauldron, as though it were mocking him.  
"It didn't work…" Tonks said dejectedly.  
"Of course it didn't work," Lily replied. "It's impossible to return from the dead."  
"You were holding your breath, too," Sirius pointed out. Lily glared at him.  
"I guess there's really nothing to be done," Moody said. "Yew Hair is the best we _can_ do from this side."  
"There's always something," James protested. "Don't you remember what Fred told us when he got here?"  
"'Anything's possible, if you've got enough nerve,'" Remus quoted.  
"Exactly."  
"James," Lily said. "Some things just can't be—" She never finished her sentence.  
At that exact moment, Gideon let out an enormous belch. After a moment of stunned silence, James and Sirius burst out laughing. Tonks and Fabian followed a moment later.  
"Gideon!" Lily exclaimed. "That was rude." The redhead ignored her, staring at his fingers.  
"What's up, Gid?" Fabian asked, his laughter subsiding.  
"I feel kinda funny," Gideon replied. His twin frowned.  
"Something in the pit of your stomach kind of funny?" he asked. Gideon nodded.  
"Like someone's trying to pull it out by a rope."  
"Yeah. Tingly, too?"  
"Like all of your nerves are suddenly waking up?"  
"Exactly. It kinda hurts…" The twins' eyes widened, and they looked at one another. Before anyone else could say anything, the both bolted from the work room. The others followed the twins to the White Room, catching up just in time to see a blinding flash of white light. When the light faded, the remaining deceased looked on in astonishment. Even Lily could not deny it.  
Gideon and Fabian Prewett had returned to life.

--

The blue sky was endless. Wind brushed past, tugging blurs of ginger into Gideon's sight. The world seemed out of focus. He blinked away the haze as cold seeped into his back, followed by a wet sensation. He sat up, felt very wet grass beneath him, and wondered how he had wound up on the ground.  
"Fab?" he questioned, looking around. Fabian sat on the ground behind him, nearly back to back with his twin.  
"I'm here, Gid," Fabian replied. "Wherever 'here' is." Gideon studied the scenery for a moment. They were at the base of a small green hill, near a bit of forest. Gazing into the shadowy wood, Gideon felt an eerie familiarity creep into him.  
"Have we been here before?" he asked, half to himself. The twins were silent for a moment. Suddenly, Fabian's eyes widened.  
"We _have,_" he said in a near whisper. Gideon frowned. Fabian turned to face his twin. "_Death Eaters!_" Gideon looked about quickly, hand on his wand. Seeing no dark wizards, he turned to his twin.  
"What are you on about, Fab? There's no one here but you and me."  
"That's not what I meant, Gid. Besides, there are no Death Eaters these days."  
"I knew that."  
"You really don't remember? Well, the place does look pretty different during the day. It was near midnight, I think. There were five Death Eaters. Dolohov was one of them. We took Parker and Cyrus Oakley with us, remember? Completely obliterated them both right before the others got us. Bleeding sods." Realization dawned on Gideon's face.  
"No," he said, astonished. "Is this really…?"  
"The place we died," the twins chorused.  
"Exact locations, too, I think," Fabian said. "But why are we here?"  
"We had no connections on this side," Gideon said. "Unless you count Molly, of course."  
"And since we're not at the Burrow, we know that blood relations don't have a strong enough connection to do returners like us any good."  
"Exactly. My guess is that when returning without a proper connection on this side, or at least some supernatural help, the only place you can really go is the place you died."  
"Which, of course, means that we succeeded in bringing ourselves back to life." The twins grinned at their conclusion.  
"We truly are brilliant," Gideon said.  
"Where do you think Fred and George got it from?" Fabian said in agreement.  
"So, what shall we do now?"  
"You mean before we drag Fred back to the afterlife? There's quite a lot we could do, Gid. Like visit Hogwarts."  
"I don't think we'd be allowed on campus. Especially not with that hard-nose Kerrigan running the place."  
"Ah, for the days of our youth!"  
"And we can't visit Molly. She'd recognize us."  
"True. We could explore London before heading to Diagon Alley."  
"That wouldn't be a bad idea, Fab. It's been more than seventy years. Besides, no one will fault us if we tell them we got lost along the way due to unfamiliarity."  
"My thoughts exactly, Gid." The twins grabbed hands and pulled themselves to their feet.

* * *

It had been three days since Fred had been brought back to life. He had been permitted to help out at the shop(if only because Angelina was sick to death of Fred's constant complaints of boredom), and had begun to enjoy his new life at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Though he was no longer identical to George, he was almost the exact image of his nephew Fred(who everyone referred to as Freddie now), and the two switched places frequently. Fred had neither seen nor spoken to Emma since their argument, which did not bother him very much at all. He had found, mostly from Angelina and Freddie, that Emma was hard to deal with. The girl was stubborn, sarcastic, and in constant denial of her illness. Her bedridden state had soured her mood drastically, though Roxanne argued that under more normal circumstances, Emma was quite pleasant. Fred, however, was more than content to avoid her until her mood improved.

It was the evening of the third day when George and Angelina gathered everyone by the wizard radio in George's(and Fred's) room. Emma joined them, making sure to sit as far from Fred as she could manage. When they were all present, George tuned the ancient radio, tapped it with his wand, and said "Dumbledore's Army." The radio crackled to life, and a familiar voice rushed into the room.  
"Good evening all, and thanks for tuning in. I'm Lee Jordan, coming to you from the lovely Carcassone, where the French National Quidditch Tournament is in full swing. The Basque Bruisers aren't doing too well, but the Paris Perennials are doing fantastically. There's a good chance they'll beat the Marseilles Marquee's in tomorrow's match, but it's the Carcassone Carrion who are the favorite to win.  
"Now for some news that's a little closer to home. Roc Sheryl is on tour this month! Opening for Miss Sheryl is the vocalist who cast her spell on all of Wales, and is now working on the rest of the UK, Miss Jessica Drake. Be sure to check the Prophet and the Quibbler for times and places. This is a show you don't want to miss.  
"And we've finally got some news from the Ministry that's not a load of—well, you know. As usual, the first bit's about Blue Moon. Or rather, it's about the Ministry's latest reactions to Blue Moon. Several Ministry officials have come out and said that Blue Moon could be the next batch of Death Eaters, and that their leader, Marianne Bellamy, could very likely be the next Voldemort. Can you say 'paranoid', folks? Brimms hasn't said anything on the matter, surprisingly enough. Now, I haven't met Marianne Bellamy, but…"  
"What's Blue Moon?" Fred asked.  
"They're a counterculture organization that doesn't get along with the Ministry," George explained. "When Kingsley Shacklebolt retired as Minister, they started doing these huge demonstrations, protesting all sorts of things that the new Minister, Brimms, was doing or had done in the past. Needless to say, the Ministry didn't like that too much. Blue Moon's first leader was the son of a Slytherin who was in our year at school, some bloke named Bellamy. Anyway, the bugger did a couple of pretty radical things and landed himself in Azkaban. His daughter's in charge now and they've been lying low for the last two years."  
"So the Ministry doesn't like them," Fred stated. "The Ministry didn't much like Dumbledore or Harry, either."  
"Yeah, but a lot of people trust the Ministry after Shacklebolt's reign," George said. "If a member of Blue Moon is found, they go straight to trial."  
"How can they tell for sure if someone's Blue Moon? People can lie both ways. They can say they're Blue Moon when they're not, or vice versa."  
"All members of Blue Moon have a small blue crescent tattoo on their left shoulder blades," Angelina supplied. "Katie Bell's daughter joined them before Adrian Bellamy transfigured the fountain in front of Gringotts and landed in Azkaban."  
"It was shooting illegal fireworks and shouting out the Ministry's dirty laundry for three weeks straight," George said with a grin.  
"Several people were injured," Roxanne added. "One man actually went and stood in the fountain for four hours, and no one could get him out. Third degree burns everywhere. That's when they arrested Adrian."  
"Poor bloke made it worse at his trial," Freddie said. "The fountain wasn't his first offense, either. He not only admitted to all of the illegal activities he'd been doing to protest, he accused the Ministry of some pretty awful things. Not sure what he accused them of, since it wasn't released, but I've heard it was some pretty far-fetched stuff."  
"It was probably a lot of the same slander the fountain was spouting," George said. "But some of the things he said were pretty far-fetched. A lot of people think he'd been taking elthiak venom."  
"What?" Fred asked.  
"Poisonous fish-type creature," George explained. "Black market only, and a rare breed of deep-sea shark. They're great at not being detected, due to the fact that they can move through time. The only thing you can legally use any part of them for is a Return Memory potion. It counteracts any and all memory manipulations. Luna Lovegood Scamander discovered them on her honeymoon, actually. She recorded the habits of Thestrals, too. Her dad's paper has been pretty popular and almost entirely credible ever since. Never thought I'd see sane people read the Quibbler."  
"Wait, back up. Luna Lovegood actually _found_ something?"  
"We were surprised, too. She helps old Xeno with the Quibbler, too."  
"Figures Luna'd stick with that stuff," Fred mused. Lee's voice broke into the conversation.  
"Breaking news!" the radio cried. "I've just gotten word—this is unbelievable! A colleague of mine has just informed me that Brimms, Minister of Magic, has made a startling announcement; one that will have every conservative pureblood out for his blood. The Statute of Secrecy, which is what keeps us from revealing ourselves to muggles and has for centuries, has been broken! Brimms just got back from meeting with all of the world leaders, muggle and wizard, and announced the change. The Statute has been in place since the end of the Dark Ages, and for good reason. I just can't believe—this is the first time in my career that I've been rendered speechless."  
Lee wasn't the only one lost for words. Every soul in the upstairs room at number 93 Diagon Ally was stunned into silence.  
"I repeat, the Statute of Secrecy has been broken!"  
The news had broken all over the world at that exact moment. Several drunks dropped their glasses of firewhiskey, but the bartender of the Leaky Cauldron didn't even notice. Jess looked across the table to gauge her brother's reaction to the news; Jeremy was smiling faintly. Jessica grinned at the success of the first phase of their plan. Jem watched his sister for a moment, recalling the conversation they'd had three weeks ago, before they had begun their campaign. He had been against revealing Wizardkind to the muggle world, but her logic had made perfect sense, and still did. If they didn't accept them now, the muggles would be made to accept them. It was fairly simple. But something tugged at the back of Jem's consciousness—the sense that something was out of place; that something was not right. And it wouldn't go away.

* * *

"Something is not right." The voice was male, and very cold, with an Irish lilt to it. The tall dark figure sat in the shadows, clothed all in black. His hair was long and black, and currently pulled back in an elastic. He was shrouded in the smoke emanating from his cigarette, an unusually peaceful expression of calm(calm being his usual expression). Caithion Sidhe, more commonly known as Death, had been in the business of collecting and guiding souls for longer than anyone cared to remember. With the help of a few trinkets, he knew the state of every soul he had ever collected, as well as those who were close to death. Not that he really needed the help. It was simply more convenient. He exhaled more smoke. The large mirror in the corner shimmered, showing a grinning young man with flame-colored hair carrying a box of spinning trinkets through a shop. Several other red-heads and two dark-skinned women were with him. The figure's slender hand gripped the arm of his chair, his bright purple eyes narrowing.  
"Hel!" he called. A cloaked and hooded figure appeared before him almost instantly.  
"Yes, Master?" the small figure asked in a high voice.  
"That pest, Frederick Weasley, is in the mortal plane. I want him brought back."  
"As you wish, Master."

* * *

AN: Yay, another chapter finished! This one was… interesting, to say the least. It took forever to get through it, thanks to my inability to plan minor details before I start writing something. I'm great with overall plot, but anything between point A and point B is a mystery until I actually get to it. And I got sick recently, so that didn't help much. I'm almost better now, though.  
Yes there are things left unexplained. I'm doing that on purpose. If it needs to be explained, I will explain it later.  
I do not endorse smoking. Smoking kills. … Well, it kills everyone but Death.  
My beta is extra super awesome! Yay, Leaviel! I typed this up while sleep deprived, and she caught my typos. As usual, it looks a lot better after she went through it.  
Introduction of new characters! Yay! I'm going to have so much fun with Hel. The character is mine, but the name came from the awesome Starkiller(Weasley-Detectives on ).  
Disclaimer: Death(Caithion Sidhe) belongs entirely to Caith. I'm just borrowing him for a little bit. Thanks, Caith!


	5. Chapter 4

Notes: This chapter has taken me the longest so far. I also just finished finals at school, as well as the play I was in. So now that I have free time, writers block is my only problem. But I finally finished the chapter! (Disclaimer at the end.)  
And I get to work with Hel and the Drake twins more in this chapter. . You'll see more of them in the future.

And before you get there and ask, no, George is not slow. He's just still trying to process all of this new information that's being dumped on him. First, his brother comes back from the dead, then the Ministry breaks the Statute of Secrecy, and now this. You'd be in shock too, if the world turned upside down and logic took a vacation.

Chapter 4: Wicked Game

_The secret that I try to hide  
The secret that I keep inside  
The secret that will save a life  
__ -Secret Keeper(Switchblade Kitten –The Weird Sisters)_

"Oi! Anybody here?" The shout broke into the upstairs room of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Fred followed his twin down the stairs and into the shop to investigate, not sure if he or George had locked the door at closing.  
"We're closed," George informed the two men in the shop.  
"We know," said the thinner of the two.  
"We're just looking for an old friend," said the other. Fred stared at them, eyes wide. Both had bright red hair, and wore t-shirts and jeans under their matching blue robes. The last time Fred had seen the almost-identical twins, they had been dead.  
"Gid?" he asked. "Fab? What are you doing here?"  
"We came to get you, of course," said the larger of the two.  
"You know them?" George asked his twin. "But… does that mean… they're…?"  
"Dead," said one.  
"Since before you two were born, actually," said the other.  
"We only just missed Percy. Mol' didn't take that too well."  
"Good thing she didn't find out 'til after he was born."  
"Percy?" George asked. "He was born during the first war against Voldemort. You died during the war?" His tone was not disbelieving, as it would have been a week before. After Fred's return to life, George was ready to believe just about anything.  
"'Course they did," Fred said. "These are Gideon and Fabian Prewett—heroes of the first war, even if they're not in the history books. They were in the original Order of the Phoenix, and it took five Deatheaters to take them out."  
"Oh please, Fred, you're embarrassing us. Fabian's speechless."  
"Actually," Fabian said. "we took two out two of them, and the other three got us from our blind spots."  
"Poxy cheating Deatheaters." George continued to stare at Gideon and Fabian. The redheaded brothers reminded George very much of Bill and Charlie, only without the long hair and scars. Even if they hadn't had freckles, there was something very… _Weasley_-_ish_ about them.  
"Prewett," George muttered to himself. "Where have I heard that name before…?"  
"You still haven't got it?" Fred asked. "Age has really done a number on your mental abilities."  
"Want some help?" Gideon asked.  
"Check your family tree," Fabian supplied.  
"Family tree?" George repeated.  
"They're Mum's brothers," Fred stated, too impatient to let his brother work things out. "The one's we're named after."  
"Are you serious?"  
"Would I lie?"  
"Yes. Blimey, Fred, they're really our uncles?"  
"What, don't believe it?" Gideon asked.  
"Go ask your mum to show you pictures of her growing up," Fabian added. "I guarantee she's got a few of us."  
"I believe it," George said defensively. "… I think."  
"So how'd you get here, anyway?" Fred asked his no-longer-deceased companions.  
"Potion," said Gideon.  
"Yew Hair," Fabian added.  
"And lots of walking," they chorused.  
"Apparating, too, looks like," George said. "The door's still locked."  
"If you've come to bring me back," Fred asked, "how are we getting back to Heaven?"  
Gideon and Fabian shared a look similar to that of a student who'd shown up for a test only to realize that he'd forgotten all the answers.  
"We haven't quite figured that one out yet," Fabian said.  
"But we're working on it," Gideon added cheerfully.

* * *

"I don't believe it went over so well!" exclaimed a young man who could be no older than eighteen or nineteen. He had messy brownish-blond hair, and his chocolate-colored eyes were framed by thick square lenses. Daniel Peterson did not look pleased. Jeremy sat across from him in the usual corner of the Leaky Cauldron.  
"It's hard to believe, alright," Jem agreed. "I didn't think Brimms would even consider the movement to break, let alone go out and convince the rest of the world."  
"It sickens me to think that everyone's going to be friendly with those muggles." Daniel spat the last word like acid. "The Statute of Secrecy was set in place for a reason!"  
"I agree, Daniel. It was set for a very good reason. But many believe that it's time for a change."  
"Like your sister?"  
"This whole plan was her idea."  
"Speaking of the plan, Jem, when will the next phase begin?"  
"Informing the muggle public of what really happened in their history? I'm not sure, really. Jess is in charge of that."  
"Mm. She wants to do her part. Brilliant, your sister."  
"Yeah," Jem agreed. _Or completely out of her mind, _he thought. _There is such a fine line between genius and insanity._

Hel sat on the branch of an enormous tree, scythe resting on her shoulder. The wind rustled her black robes and her surprisingly blond hair. She had been working as a reaper of souls under Death since the end of the 1300's, when she had been an orphan living in the streets of a smaller British city, and the only one of a group of orphans who survived past the age of fourteen. Even after going without food for nearly a year, she was still alive. By that time, she had begun to wonder if she had died in her sleep and just hadn't realized it yet. She was eighteen when the Black Death hit the city, and joined the millions infected.  
"_Take me from this awful place,_" she had begged. "_I will do anything to leave this pain."_ Something in her had struck Death as quite peculiar, and so he had proposed a bargain with the girl.  
_"You shall work for me until the end of time," _Death told her. _"You will lead souls to their place in the afterlife, and do my bidding besides. You will answer to the name of Hel."  
_She had been Death's minion ever since that day.  
Hel's latest task was to find one Frederick Weasley, a wizard lost at the Battle of Hogwarts half a century before, and bring him back to Heaven.  
"Now," she said to herself. "If I were back from the dead, where would I go?" 'Home' would be her first guess. But Fred Weasley had had several places that he'd called home while he was alive. Hel decided that the red-haired prankster would not have gone to Hogwarts—school was in session, and there was really nothing there for him. That left only two places to check. The reaper giggled.  
"Easy," Hel said to herself with a smile.

* * *

"We've got to break old Aidan out," said a gruff-looking man with an eye patch. He was not alone in the dark basement room. There were many witches and wizards gathered, and all very mismatched.  
"It's impossible," said a younger man with dark hair. "You'd have to break _in_ to break anyone out, and that place is overflowing with alarms."  
"Aidan got himself into this mess," an Irish woman said. "He can get himself out."  
"Everyone shut up!" The group in the crowded room turned to the young woman who had spoken. Her auburn hair was tied in a long braid, and her chocolate-colored eyes were set. She was perhaps the youngest person there, and yet something about her commanded respect. "My father is in Azkaban for being a danger to others," she said. "We can't break him out, unless we want to give up everything we've been fighting for. If anyone wants to try it, they act alone and without our support."  
She was greeted with silence.  
"Good," the young woman said. "Now, on to business. Rumours have been floating around for days now about the state of the Statute of Secrecy. Peter?" The dark-haired young man stood up.  
"The Ministry announced last night that the Statute of Secrecy has been broken," he said. "By now, the entire world knows." Shouts and curses filled the room.  
"Shut up!" the young woman in charge commanded. "Are you really going to fall apart over something as simple as this? It's ridiculous!"  
"Darn right, it is!" someone shouted.  
"I agree with Marianne," Peter said. "We know the ministry is made up of fools and puppets, but there's nothing we can do about that."  
"No, there are things we could do," Marianne said. "Peaceful protest. Boycott. But it won't do any good against what's already happened. The breaking of the Statute can't be undone.  
"Then what do we do?" the man with the eye patch demanded.  
"We wait. If you don't have patience, learn it. I can feel a storm brewing, and when the clouds break, Blue Moon will be ready."

* * *

"I wonder what's taking them so long," Roxanne commented, listening to Fred and George chatting with the two unfamiliar voices on the main floor.  
"They'll know we're closed by now," Angelina said.  
"Maybe they're mates from school," Freddie suggested. "Dad has old friends stopping by all the time."  
"The sound pretty young to be friends of George's," Roxanne noted. Emma chose this moment to leave the room, muttering something about needing the loo. She slipped silently down the stairs—she had become very good at sneaking about while growing up at her parents' house—and sat next to the counter, near where the four red-haired men stood laughing at some bad joke.  
The two men she knew were not Fred and George Weasley were very similar to the troublemaking twins in appearance and attitude. Both had the same red hair and freckles, and their smiles held the same cat-like mischief Emma had seen in the twins. One of them turned. He was more stout than the other three, and it looked as if his nose had been broken once.  
"Well, what've we got here?" he asked. "A sneaky little mouse, aren't you?" Emma's cheeks turned pink.  
"I'm not a mouse!" she protested.  
"I never said it was a bad thing. Who said there was anything wrong with mice? I like mice." Fred looked over the man's shoulder at Emma.  
"That's just Emma," he said. "She's not too interesting. Poor girl's sick, you see." Emma threw her slipper at Fred, hitting him in the nose. The other man laughed.  
"Emma, eh? I'm Gideon, and that's my brother Fabian." He jerked his thumb at the other stranger. "We're relatives of Fred and George. Pleasure to meet you."  
"It's nice to meet you, too," Emma replied. She watched Gideon as he sat down across from her and began talking to her. He was cheerful and friendly, quite unlike Fred. Emma found that she rather liked Gideon.

**o0o**

George agreed that Fabian and Gideon could stay, as long as they didn't blow anything up. (He had heard all of the stories from Fred and Fabian.) He was in the shop, working on advertisements for a new product, when Emma came to him.  
Emma Grace was by no means a shy girl. She had been a bit timid when she had first come to stay at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, but had quickly warmed up to the Weasleys and the Jordans. George had found that nothing really scared the girl, not since she had been diagnosed as 'incurable' during her fourth year at Hogwarts. But now, she looked nervous and uncomfortable.  
"What do you need?" George asked. He knew that something was up—he had quite a lot of experience dealing with teenagers.  
"Well…" Emma started. She took a breath before continuing in a rush. "YouknowhowIwastalkingtoGideonearlierwellnowI'vegotbutterfliesandmyheadisspinningandthere'snowayI'mgettinganysleeptonightbecauseIcan'tstopthinkingabouthimandwhatamIgoingtodoGeorgeIthinkIlikehimandIdon'tthinkI'veeverbeensoconfusedinmylife!"  
George blinked. It was one giant run-on sentence spoken at lightning speed, and he'd still understood it somehow. It was a hard thing to explain, so he decided to take it lightly.  
"First," he said, "try breathing. I don't think you took a single breath in all of that." Emma blushed. "Second, I wouldn't worry about it so much. Gid's too old for you, Em."  
"It's only six years," Emma protested. "My parents are ten years apart."  
"He's been twenty-five for over seventy years, Emma."  
"That's impossible."  
"Didn't he tell you? He died in the first war against Voldemort. Gideon and Fabian Prewett were killed by Death Eaters before Fred and I were even born."  
"No way. That's not possible."  
"Fred died fifty years ago and he's back, as alive as ever."  
"Only because I brought him back!"  
"That just helps to prove my point, you know. If you still don't believe me, ask Fabian or Gideon yourself."  
"Ask me what?" Emma turned. Gideon stood at the bottom of the stairs, hair mussed and eyes half-closed with sleep. Emma blushed slightly.  
"Did you…?" she began, then changed her mind. "How old are you?"  
"Twenty-five," Gideon said, his words somewhat slurred. "Didn' I tell you earlier?"  
"Yeah, but…" She took a breath. "George said that… that you died. A long time ago."  
"S'true." Emma's eyes widened. "Fab an' me were in the original Order of the Phoenix with Dumbledore 'n the Marauders. Our brother-in-law, Fred 'n George's dad, was in, too. Mol' wasn't. She wanted to take care of her kids. Thought we'd all get hurt. She wasn' such a worrier b'fore the war. Fab an' me were attacked by Death Eaters, five of 'em, little more'n a month before Percy was born. We were killed…" Gideon thought for a moment. "July? Yeah. July 15, 1976."

* * *

Jessica Drake stood just off-stage, waiting as an old man with long hair and wearing a violent purple coat with a pink fur collar spoke to the noisy crowd she could not yet see. It was a good crowd, she knew. There were a few muggles among those of the wizarding community, and all fans. Radio DJ's often joked about how her music cast a spell on all who listened. Listening to the crowd now, Jess didn't blame them. Then again, they didn't know the half of it.  
"In all my years as a musician," the old man said in a thick Scottish accent, "I don't think I've known anyone who has risen in the charts as fast as this young woman. It is my pleasure to introduce to you a sensational singer and a proud member of the wizarding community, the lovely and talented Miss Jessica Drake!" The man stepped aside as Jess walked to the center of the stage and took the microphone.  
"My fellow music lovers," she said, her voice clear and bold. "I'm glad to be here. And to be introduced by a legend such as Gideon Crumb is truly an honour. Before I begin singing, I've got an announcement. In about a month, I'll be performing in London again to kick off my first world tour." She paused a moment to let the cheering subside. "Thank you. Your support means so much to me. I want to share my message with not just the wizarding community, but the muggle world as well. With this tour, I believe that I can achieve this goal." The crowd exploded.  
_This will be easy,_ Jess thought as she began to sing.

* * *

A/N: I loved coming up with Hel's story! I originally placed her in the 1600's, but then I found that the Black Plague was in the 13-1400's, so I pushed her back a bit more. Lots of fun.  
Yes, there's something weird about Hel. No, that's not her mortal name. No, I'm not telling you her real name. XP  
About Gideon Crumb; He is HP canon and not my creation. He's the bagpipe player of the Weird Sisters. I found him on the Harry Potter Lexicon. .  
I'm pretty sure I've said it before(definitely have on dA), but I love Starkiller. . She's been super helpful with my writer's block. We've been brainstorming, and she gave me some brilliant ideas.  
Also, my beta-reader is super awesome. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe, or any of the HP characters in this chapter. Caithion(Death) belongs to the awesome Caith. Marianne mostly belongs to Leaviel. Everything else is pretty much mine.

* * *


	6. Chapter 5

Notes: This one took me a bit, since things keep coming up. I'll explain more about that at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Marianne belongs to Leaviel, and Caithion belongs to Caith. I own everything else.

Second Chances

Chapter 5: Curious Satisfaction

_Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back._

Hel stood at the front door of a very dilapidated-looking house near the small town of Ottery-St.-Catchpole. The Burrow, as it was known, had survived for at least three-quarters of a century as the home of the Weasley family. If not for magic, the house would have collapsed years ago from all of the rooms added onto the upper levels over the years. The added rooms stuck out at odd angles from the upper floors, almost like balconies, and they looked ready to fall off. It almost looked as though the house was built by a small child with access to a lot of crazy glue.  
A plump woman with gray hair and a cheerful smile answered the door when Hel knocked.  
"Can I help you?" the woman asked, eyeing Hel curiously. _She must not get many visitors outside of the family,_ Hel thought. The reaper had shrunken her scythe and hung it around her neck like a pendant, and had swapped her old shirt and breeches for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.  
"Molly Weasley?" Hel asked. The woman nodded. "Ah, perfect! I did find the right house!" No need to let Molly know that she had known all along where the Burrow was located.  
"If you're looking for Harry or Ginny, I'm afraid they're not here." _Oh, _Hel thought, _she thinks I'm here about the heroes.  
_"Actually, I'm here about one of your older boys," the reaper said. "I have no interest in the younger children at this time." Molly Weasley was still unfazed.  
"Bill's in France right now, and Charlie's still in Romania."  
"Charlie's still working with dragons? That man defies all logic!" Hel knew little things about everyone involved in the war against Voldemort, but she was too busy to keep track of the details. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't get sidetracked. I'm actually here about one of your twins, Fred." Molly's eyes fell, and she somehow looked older than she had a moment ago. Hel knew that Fred wasn't at the Burrow. She had known when Molly opened the door. But she hoped she could get something useful.  
"If you want me to talk about the battle," she said, "then I'm sorry, but you'll be leaving empty-handed."  
"I already know about the battle," Hel said gently. "I don't want to talk about it, either. I'm here about his life."  
"His life story was published fifteen years ago. If you want to know anything, I suggest you check Flourish and Blott's."  
"I just need to know what his favorite places were." Molly closed the door. Hel sighed. Maybe Xeno Lovegood, the old bat who lived near the Weasley home, would tell her something useful.

It was a relatively short walk to the curious tower where Xenophilius Lovegood lived. The tower was not very big, and unlike most towers, it looked friendly and welcoming—despite the strange-looking weather vein on the roof.  
As Hel was about to knock, a woman with silvery hair opened the door. A pale wand was tucked behind one of her ears, each of which sported a small radish.  
"Are you from the Ministry?" she asked. Her voice was light, and matched her dreamy blue eyes perfectly.  
"No," Hel said. "I've got nothing to do with them." The woman smiled and stepped aside to let her in. Hel entered the strange home. The first thing the reaper noticed about the cluttered front room was the curio cabinet, or rather, what was inside of it—bits of rock, strange-looking plants, a couple of small bones, and several strange instruments. It was none of these oddities that had caught Hel's attention, but three ordinary-looking framed photographs placed at eye level. (Well, ordinary for wizarding photographs.) The first was of a fairly large group of students in colored ties and gray sweaters. They practiced jinxes and protective spells on one another, occasionally disarming someone or producing a small silvery animal from their wand tips. The middle picture held a much smaller group, three girls and three boys. The six children smiled and waved. The last picture held a girl with blond hair and dreamy eyes standing with a pair of red-haired twins—Fred and George Weasley.  
"Those are from my fourth year," the woman said. She pointed to the students practicing spells in the first picture. "That's Dumbledore's Army, the year it was started. Some of us are still in contact." Hel looked at the woman, who opened the cabinet and removed the three moving photos. The reaper followed her into a small sitting room, which was nearly as cluttered as the front room. The woman plopped onto a couch.  
"You're Luna Lovegood, aren't you?" Hel asked as she sat next to her. The woman smiled.  
"I'm Luna Scamander now," she said. "I got married." Hel nodded, then pointed to the second picture, the one with six children.  
"Who are they?" She knew, of course. She could recognize any person by sight, even an identical twin. It was one of the things that had come with her contract.  
"That's Harry, the boy with the glasses. The redheaded boy is Ron, and the girl is Ginny. She was in my year. That girl is Hermione, and the other boy is Neville. They were my friends."  
"And you knew Fred and George, too?" the reaper asked, indicating the third picture.  
"Oh yes. They were in Dumbledore's Army, and they opened a lovely joke shop in Diagon Alley. George was always very nice to me."  
"I see. Luna, do you know where Fred liked to go?"  
"Oh, let's see. He came over here once in a while, but he spent most of his time at home. Until he and George left school, that is. Then they moved into their shop. They loved Hogwarts, too. They came for the last battle. Fred died there. Poor George hasn't been himself since. I think he would've liked it if Fred had become a ghost, but even then it wouldn't have been the same."  
"Of course not," Hel agreed. "To lose someone so close is dreadful." She didn't think he would go back to Hogwarts, but perhaps… "Do you think, if Fred had become a ghost, or some such thing, he might've gone to the school?"  
"No," Luna said thoughtfully. "I don't think so. He would've wanted to be with George. If he'd come back, Fred would go to the shop." She smiled. "George would like that."  
"Of course."  
"You know, I've always thought that Fred and George were like a pair of Cheshire cats. They got into quite a lot of trouble. Though George was a bit nicer than Fred. He said hello to me whenever he saw me."  
"And Fred didn't?"  
"Fred and George are different, even though they're twins. Fred liked to chase girls. George was never very interested in flirting."  
"Oh, really?" Hel wasn't so sure.  
"You seem very interested in Fred." It had come out of the blue. Luna was more perceptive than the reaper had thought.  
"Not in the same way you're interested in George," Hel replied.  
"That's silly. Why would you think that I have a crush on George?" Luna's cheeks were pink. Hel smiled a little.  
"I never said you did, Luna. But you just made me terribly curious. Care to share?"  
"You're very curious," Luna said dreamily. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know. That's what Ginny told me, anyways."  
"But satisfaction brought it back," Hel countered automatically.  
"Oh, you know the other half!" Luna exclaimed. She was trying to change the subject. (That, or she was very easily distracted.)  
_Of course I know it, _Hel thought. _It's one of Master Caithion's favorite sayings. Though he doesn't really like the second half as much.  
_"I promise I won't tell anyone," she said aloud. Luna paused.  
"Not a soul?"  
"Not a soul." Hel watched as Luna took a breath, staring at the pictures on the coffee table in front of them.

* * *

"Free the innocent!" a woman yelled.  
"The Ministry is a joke!" a man added, rather lamely. The street was full of protesters, shouting and carrying signs that said things like "No Change, No Charge" and "Werewolves are people too!" The protesters had begun their march in Diagon Alley that morning, gathering supporters on their way to the front doors of the Ministry. Blue Moon(and quite a few others who had joined the protest) now stood before the Ministry of Magic.  
"Let him go!" Marianne yelled from the frond of the crowd, her voice magically enhanced, even though she didn't need it much. "Release Elliot Longbottom!"  
Jeremy Drake sighed and stepped out of the front door, barely dodging a very large tomato. There were more supporters of Elliot Longbottom than he'd thought. Jem took a breath. He hated doing this.  
"Elliot Longbottom is accused of murder and of being an unregistered werewolf," he said in what he hoped was an authoritative voice. "What proof have you of his innocence?"  
"What proof do you have of his guilt?" Marianne shot back.  
"The proof is all over the corpse of the girl who was killed. We even recovered wolf hair from the body."  
"And how do you know it's Elliot's hair? What proof is there that he's even a werewolf?" Marianne's questions caused the crowd to explode into shouts of agreement.  
"I can have you all arrested, you know," Jem said with more confidence than he felt. _Could the protesters be right?_ he thought. No. They had found blood on Longbottom's clothes. It was definitely him. "You have five minutes." He turned and walked back inside.

* * *

Jess was in her brother's office when he returned, a very serious look on her face. Jem was not surprised to see her."What news?" he asked, sure that his twin was about to reveal another part of their plan. He was content to let her take care of the details.  
"I found a curious report on your desk," Jess said, cool as ice. "There was uncategorized magic performed in Diagon Alley last week."  
"Oh, is that all." Jess blinked at her brother.  
"'Is that all'?" she repeated, astonished.  
"We get these all the time," Jem explained. "Along with various noise complaints. It's Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The owner experiments on new products fairly often, and it's never anything to worry about."  
"This was magic performed by a girl just out of school, Jem."  
"She's probably been hired at the shop. It's still nothing to worry about."  
"Maybe you should read the report yourself." Jess thrust a sheet of parchment at her brother. He skimmed the page.  
"Nothing that strange," he said. Jess pointed to something on the page.  
"How is that not strange?" she asked. Jem's eyes widened slightly as he read.  
"This is impossible," he said quietly. "That spell… It's in a book that hasn't been seen since the 1400's. The book was banned centuries ago! How did she—?"  
"The spell was cast by a girl named Emma Grace," Jess said, interrupting her twin. "I think we should pay her a visit." Jem nodded.  
"I'll draw up the paperwork," he said, following his sister out of the office. The parchment was left on the desk. The folded paper was face down, the writing on the back visible to anyone who happened to glance down.

_Since the restoration spell was cast, Frederick G. Weasley(1978-1998) has been casting minor spells and testing Weasley products with George. F. Weasley, owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes._

* * *

Emma sat hidden behind the counter of Weasley's Wheezes, hugging her knees. She couldn't sleep. She was still in shock over the revelation that Gideon, like Fred, had been dead for decades. How was it possible? No one else had the stone, and she knew that only precious few wizards had access to Elthiak venom or Thestral hair. She was sure there had been Yew Hair in her potion as well, which healthy humans had trouble finding. Emma had slipped inside herself, consumed by her thoughts.  
A small sound pulled her back to the shop. She was used to strange noises—even the occasional explosion. But this sound was different. This sound didn't fit. Emma carefully peeked over the edge of the counter. A man with a ponytail slipped into the back room, where the Defense Against the Dark Arts products were kept—Decoy Detonators, Instant Darkness Powder, various items with Shield Charms. Emma grabbed one of the Extendable Ears that dangled behind the counter. George and Freddie had rigged them up years ago for communication to whoever was upstairs.  
"There's someone in the back room!" she whispered urgently. A moment later, Roxanne and Angelina appeared with a loud crack. A yell came from the back room, and Fred and George frog-marched the thief into the main shop.  
"Lysander!" Roxanne exclaimed. The young man with the ponytail blushed embarrassedly and looked at his feet. Angelina looked surprise.  
"Roxie, you know this rat?" Fred asked, very much out of the loop.  
"I went to school with him," Roxanne said. "Lysander Scamander. He works with his mother, usually."  
"What are you doing in our back room?" George asked his captive. "Your mum wouldn't send you to steal."  
"It's got nothing to do with Mum," Lysander said. He muttered, "We need to break someone out."  
"Who does?" Fred asked.  
"Blue Moon."  
"You're not getting anyone out of Azkaban with decoys and darkness powder," George said.  
"We're not trying to get Aiden out!" Lysander said. "We're going for Longbottom. And he's only in the Ministry's detention facility." Fred blinked, confused.  
"Neville's son, Elliot," George explained. "He was arrested for murder and for being an unregistered werewolf."  
"Both of which are unfounded accusations!" Lysander exclaimed angrily. "Elliot isn't a werewolf. He couldn't have killed that girl!"  
"Calm down," Angelina said. "We know he's innocent."  
"We have to break him out. The Ministry doesn't' care who they punish as long as it makes the public feel safer."  
"That's new," Fred muttered sarcastically.  
"You like George, don't you?" Hel asked, sounding like a sympathetic girlfriend. Luna blushed and looked down. Despite being nearly seventy, the act made her look like a schoolgirl again. "You've practically admitted it already," Hel said with a smile. "Saying it out loud won't change things."  
"Oh, but it will," Luna said. "Admitting that I like George makes it more real. Until it's said, it's not entirely true, you see."  
"That… actually makes sense."  
"Do you think I'm odd?" Hel blinked, a little surprised. Luna kept going. "Even Rolf thinks I'm odd."  
"Everyone's a bit odd, in their own ways. You're just more different than most people are used to. Now stop trying to change the subject. If you like George, why did you marry someone else?"  
"Because Rolf asked me. He was so sweet, and I really do like him. And I knew George didn't like me that way. I'd known it for a while, really." Luna smiled. "I'm happy."  
_She doesn't think of herself, _Hel thought, a little surprised. _She never has. Oddities aside, you don't find people like Luna very often.  
_"I suppose I'll find George at his shop, then?" Hel asked after a moment.  
"You're going to ask him about Fred?" Luna asked. "That's a good idea. They were twins, after all."  
"I know. If anyone knows where to find Fred, it's his twin."  
"Fred's buried on the hill," Luna said. "You almost talk as though he's still alive."  
"Not still. Again."  
"He's really alive?" Hel mentally kicked herself for letting that slip. She had gotten too comfortable around Luna.  
"Of course not," she lied. "Once someone dies, they can't come back, right?"  
"Don't worry. I believe you. If anyone can do the impossible, Fred can."  
"You… Huh?"  
"That would explain why you're looking for him, and why you can't tell anyone."  
"I never said—!"  
"But it's true, right?" Hel stopped.  
"He shouldn't be back," she said, defeated. "Master Cai—um, Death, sent me to get him."  
"Oh, so you're an angel of death?"  
"The title is technically Reaper of Souls. Luna, this is completely irrelevant."  
"I think he's definitely in London," Luna said.  
"Perhaps," He sighed. She could see how Luna's random topic changes would wear a person down if they weren't used to it.  
"He would probably be with George, or at least near him."  
"So… Diagon Alley?"  
"I would check the joke shop first."  
Several minutes later, Hel bid Luna farewell, reassuring the woman that she wouldn't tell anyone about her crush on George.

* * *

AN: Done! Yay! I've gotten started on the next chapter, but I need to plan out a little more. Also, I'm working at a boy scout camp this summer, so I'm not really here much. The next chapter probably won't go up until mid-August, when I'm done with camp. I actually finished this(with my beta's help) during my week off, and am posting it a few hours before I leave.

I know I say this every chapter, but I love my beta. She's amazing. I don't know what I'd do without her. This chapter was a bit of a mess before I sent it to her.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll get the next one up as soon as I can!


	7. Chapter 6

Notes: This chapter happened to fall during the summer, when I had no time to work on it because I was working at a scout camp. After that, it took me a while to finish writing the chapter. I got it finished, and I got half of it typed up when NaNoWriMo hit. National Novel Writing Month happens in November, and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30. My novel got a little past 25k(the halfway mark) when I got to the ending. But as soon as I was done, I got right back to work on this. Sadly, I finished right as finals week hit. And then the holidays hit. And then I started rehearsals for the play I'm in (Taming of the Shrew, done western style!). But it's done and edited now! Yay!

I apologize for the long wait, but here's the next chapter(finally)! And this one's longer, too. ^-^

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Marianne belongs to Leaviel, Caithion belongs to Caith, and Falon belongs mostly to Starkiller.

* * *

Second Chances

Chapter 6: What It Takes

_The stand for the party of one  
I will not stand down  
I'll stand aside for no one  
Even if I have to stand alone_

_-Stand Alone(Switchblade Kittens –The Weird Sisters)_

It was dark. Rough hands gripped her arms. Her hands were tied behind her back with a lashing spell. She had nearly fallen five times since being taken, even though they traveled on smooth ground. Every time, her captor had pushed her. She could tell by the footsteps that there was only one. He was large. She knew his size by his hands and the heaviness of the footfalls behind her. She knew he was male by the smell, though she wasn't sure if he was human or ogre.

They were inside now. Her kidnapper gave her one last shove and left. She was alone. Maybe she had a chance of escaping now.

"How dreadful!" exclaimed a voice coated in honey. It was a woman. "I told that idiot to take care of you, not tie you up!" The lashing spell came undone, and the blindfold was removed. They were in a small room, made of stone and probably underground, though there hadn't been any stairs. One wall was covered in books, another in archaic weapons and strange items she couldn't identify. A third wall held the door, and the fourth bore a very large painting of a wizard with pitch-black hair and a handsome face. She noticed none of this, for her eyes were fixed upon the woman. Or rather, the woman's curiously bright blue-green eyes.

"So," the woman said. "You're Emma Grace."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Emma!" Fred's voice echoed through the empty hall. He frowned and made a noise of irritation. Emma was finally well enough to get out of bed, so he'd been sent to get her for lunch. Fred banged on the door.

"Emma!" he yelled again. He pushed the door open and swore loudly. The room was empty. He went through the entire flat with the same result. He searched the shop, with still no sign of Emma. She had eluded him. Fred swore again and called Emma a few choice names.

"What's all the ruckus?" Gideon asked his foul-mouthed nephew.

"Break a nail?" teased Fabian. George frowned.  
"Did you and Emma have another row?" he asked.

"That bleeding shrew is nowhere to be found," Fred fumed, his face almost as red as his hair. The others could tell that Fred was in a bad mood.

"She was in her room this morning," Roxanne said. "I saw her an hour ago. Did you check to see if she's invisible?"

"She'd've shown up to laugh at me by now if she were," Fred muttered. George ran up the stairs, leaving a confused and annoyed twin behind him. When he came back down, Fred growled out an "I told you so."

"Her shoes are still here," George said. "She didn't leave on her own."

"She could be tricking us. I wouldn't put it past her."

"Fred, the lamp is broken. And I found this on the nightstand. George held up a small piece of parchment, which Fred snatched away. As he read, the bell above the shop's door tinkled. Lysander joined the others, not saying anything. He had been helping out in the shop for the last week, as a sort of punishment for breaking in, and liked the warm, friendly atmosphere there. But the familiar warmth had been replaced with the tense feeling of something not quite right. As Lysander opened his mouth to ask what was going on, Fred swore loudly.

"This is exactly the sort of thing that bleeding toad would do! Thank Heaven she was replaced. If she weren't dead…"  
"What are you going on about?" Freddie asked.

"The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. He's kidnapped Emma." Fred stormed toward the front door of the shop. It took the combined strength of George, Fabian, Gideon, and Freddie to hold him back.

"You can't just waltz into the Ministry of Magic and expect them to hand her over," Angelina was saying.

"They can't find out that you've come back from the dead," Roxanne added sensibly.

"We know you're pissed," Gideon said.

"So are we," Fabian added. Everyone was speaking at once, trying to calm Fred down. Lysander's voice was lost among the others. Frustrated, he whistled loudly. Everyone turned to him, startled but quiet.

"I said," Lysander stated calmly, "that I know how we can get into the Ministry."

"Explain," Fred said, ready to listen for once.

"Marianne doesn't even know about this," Lysander said. "I know someone, an old friend of Aiden's, who can get us in and out without too much trouble."

"Your friend can break into the Ministry without getting noticed?" Fred asked skeptically.

"Not even Harry Potter could do that," George said, equally skeptical.

"I never said unnoticed. Just easy. Falon is a master of breaking in."

"Falon?" Gideon asked. "Interesting name."

"So, where do we find this friend of yours?" Fabian asked.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"How did you do it?" Emma blinked in confusion.

"Do what?" she asked the pretty woman.

"That spell!" The woman sounded like an excited teenager talking about a cute new transfer student. Emma didn't know what she was talking about. The woman sighed. "You brought someone back from the dead?" It wasn't a real question.

"Oh!" Emma exclaimed. "That spell! I followed the instructions in a really old spell book, but it didn't work." She left out the fact that it had finally worked after she'd tweaked her potion.

"Then why is Fred Weasley walking around casting spells?" The woman didn't sound quite as friendly as she had before. Emma guessed that she had a short fuse, and would lose her temper pretty soon.

"Fred Weasley is George's son," Emma replied. While it was true that George had named his only child after his twin, Emma knew that it wasn't what the woman meant.

"I'm talking about George's twin, girl." Of course.

"George's twin died before I was born."

"I know that. But he's alive again, and you're the one who brought him back. Now quit playing dumb and tell me how you did it." She was definitely annoyed now.

"I'm not playing dumb," Emma replied stubbornly. "I'm just not giving you the answers you want to hear." The woman smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. It was cold and dark.

"Is that so? Well, you'd better start telling me what I want to hear, before I force it out of you. I _will_ get the answers from you, one way or another." Emma glared at her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The Moldy Cork was not the nicest or the most renowned pub in England. It was styled to look like a Medieval tavern(complete with mice and a stray black cat), and sat on a small road outside of London. The witches and wizards who frequented the Moldy Cork were not the friendliest or the most respectable of folk. They were pirates, black market merchants, liars, cheaters, con-men, thieves, and general doers of illegal deeds. But though they had their reputations, they weren't a bad lot.

Fabian stood back, looking uneasily up at the tavern as Lysander and the others went in. He had a bad feeling about this. It felt like something big was about to happen, and it wouldn't be good.

"Hey Fab, you alright?" Gideon stood in the doorway, looking back at his twin. Fabian smiled.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just needed a bit of mental preparation." He would tell Gideon later, when they were all back and Fred and George's joke shop.

"Let's go then. I think Lysander found 'im."

Inside, they had indeed found who they were looking for. The person in question stood on a table in the center of the pub with a couple of pirates, singing a very out-of-tune rendition of 'I'll Tell Me Ma.' The rogue was a bit on the scrawny side, and looked very boyish. She had short, messy brown hair and wore a red bandanna around her forehead. Fred stopped in his tracks, causing Fabian to walk into him and almost knock them both over.

"What's the hold-up?" Fabian asked, whacking his nephew in the back of the head.

"Look!" Fred said.

"Is that who we're looking for?" Gideon asked, coming up next to the others. (Fred, George, Fabian, and Gideon had been the only ones to accompany Lysander. Freddie and the women had opted to keep the shop running while they were gone.)

"Yep," Lysander said. "Falon Wolf, greatest lock-pick in Europe."

"She's a _girl_!" Fred exclaimed.

"Don't let her looks fool you. She could break into Hogwarts if she had a mind to."

"Scamander!" Falon jumped off the table and grinned at Lysander. "This's the last place I'd expect to see _you_. Well, aside from the Ministry, o'course."

"We came to ask for your help," Lysander said, waving a hand in front of his face to ward off the stench of beer. Falon squinted at the four redheads behind him.

"I think I drank a wee bit too much," she said. "There's four of him."

"We're twins," George said.

"So I'm only seein' double? Good."

"No," Lysander said. "There're four of them. The Prewett twins and the Weasley twins."

"Weasley? The ones who started that joke shop in Diagon Alley?"

"The same," said George.

"Wicked. But didn't one of the Weasley twins kick the bucket back during the war?" Gideon hoped she wasn't as perceptive when she was sober. He stuck out his hand to change the subject.

"Gideon Prewett," he introduced himself. "And this is my brother Fabian. Lysander says you can help us out."

"Information has a high price here, me bucko," Falon said.

"It's not information," Lysander corrected. "We've got a job to do, and it requires your skills." The rogue's eyes cleared, and she seemed to sober up completely. She led the men to a table in the far corner, away from the other customers.

"Details," Falon said when they'd sat down. "What's the job?"

"The sodding Ministry kidnapped a friend of ours," Fred said. "We need to break in, get her, and get out."

"Break into the Ministry? That'll be a tough job. What's in it for me if I help?"

"We can pay you," George said. "Name your price."

"I like the way you boys work. Ten thousand galleons. Half now, and half when the job's done. Sound fair?" The redheads looked at one another.

"You've got yourself a deal," Gideon said, offering his hand. Falon took it with a grin.

"And you've got yourself a lock-pick. I suggest we wait until dark to break your friend out. It's easier to do by night."

"No waiting," Fred said. "We go now."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Marianne Bellamy stood in the main entryway of the Ministry of Magic, waiting patiently for her guide. She had been lucky enough to get a tour of the Ministry that day. (Tours were not given often those days, and one had to make a request in order to get one.) The little old tour guide led Marianne through the facility for roughly two hours before she finally requested a bathroom break. It was easy to apparate into the back hall from inside the loo, and there were so few guards between there and the dungeon that she had no trouble at all sneaking in.

The dungeon was dark, which only made it easier for Marianne to slip into the wing of cells where they'd been keeping Elliot. The cells were old-fashioned, with metal cots and steel bars. She checked every last one of them. No Elliot. She swore quietly. As she turned to leave, a set of scratch marks in the stone floor of an empty cell caught her attention. It was a small rune, one most people wouldn't recognize.

"'Blossom'," Marianne read aloud. "So that's where you are."

~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, how does this thing work?" Falon asked, turning a gold coin over in her hands. George had given everyone a similar coin when they'd arrived at the back door of the Ministry of Magic.

"It's easy," Fred said. "Touch the coin with your wand to send a message. You probably won't need to, even after we split up."

"I'll keep track of the officials," George said. "I'll be sure to let you know if anyone who can get you in trouble heads your way. Be sure to check the interrogation room and the dungeon first."

"Let's get going, then," Gideon said enthusiastically.

"Way ahead of you, mate," Falon stated, sticking a small wire into the lock on the door.

"This is the Ministry of Magic," Fabian argued. "They're not just going to leave a simple muggle lock on the door and expect it to keep everyone out. It's probably covered in complex spells; lock, door, and probably the hall inside. It'll be absolutely impossible to get in this—" The lock clicked and Falon pushed the door open.

"What were you saying?" she asked, smirking. Fabian blushed.

"You'd think a bunch of paranoid officials would have better security," Fred stated, walking into the empty hallway. Falon and the Prewetts followed him in and down the hall, Lysander right behind them. Fabian and Lysander headed for the dungeons, while Fred, Falon, and Gideon went to search the court rooms.

Outside, George pulled a folded map from his robe and spread it out on the ground. It was covered in small moving dots of different colors. As George quickly tracked down all of the red dots on the map, he remembered the work he had put into making it.

The inspiration had been the Marauder's Map, of course. Fred and George had found it (or rather, stolen it) during their first year at Hogwarts, and had given it to Harry Potter during their fifth year. The next time George saw the Map was at his brother's funeral. Harry hadn't said a word when he'd handed it to George. When George asked him why, Harry had only said "use it well." The Map had then remained in a drawer in the flat above Weasley's Wizard Wheezes until the divorce. George had found it again while cleaning out the cluttered flat a few weeks later, and had quickly started work on figuring out just how the map worked. He had yet to work out individual people by name, but he had managed to divide the dots that represented wizard folk by rank and ability. He could also divide by Hogwarts house or foreign school. In the case of the Ministry map he now watched, Ministry officials were red, the Minister and his cabinet were blue, law officials and Aurors were pink, visitors and those who were suspected of something illegal were both green(for suspects were usually only there for a short time), and anyone breaking in or sneaking around where they had no business being were marked with bright purple.

George watched his companions search, keeping an eye on the officials. As he scanned a hallway of offices, something caught his eye. In one of the offices were two green dots. George frowned. What were tow visitors doing in the office of a ministry official by themselves?

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Just tell me how you did it," Jess said, exasperated.

"I honestly don't know," Emma replied. Jess sighed. She should've gotten _something_ out of the girl by now. "Look," Emma continued. "I admit that I brought Fred back to life, but I did it by accident."

"You accidentally brought him back from the dead using an archaic resurrection spell?" Jess asked sarcastically.

"I didn't think it would actually work." Jess could tell that she way lying. The older witch put her hand on Emma's shoulder and looked her in the eyes. With that simple touch, Jess could easily ensure that the girl would tell the truth. She didn't even have to think about it—the trick was easy for her, almost natural.

"Emma, do you remember what spell you used?" Her voice was soft, as though she were speaking to a small child who had lost something precious.

"Of course I remember," Emma replied. "But the spell doesn't work on its own. That's why it's archaic and unused."

"On its own?" Now they were getting somewhere.

"Yeah. I'm really good with potions, so I made one to accompany the spell."

"And it worked."

"No."

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"It took me quite a few tries to get it. And when I did, I thought it had failed because of the explosion."

"Explosion?"

"Yeah. Thestral heart and elthiak venom are highly combustible when you mix them together. It's a good thing I put the venom in last." Jess nodded. The girl chattered on as though she had been given veritaserum. It had not been hard to make her drop her inhibitions and make her talk. That was what Jess loved most about her tricks.

"Emma, what else was in your potion?"

"I could tell you," Emma said. "But it won't do you any good. I won't give you any measurements, and it'd take you way too long to figure them all out."

"That's fine." Jess smiled. "I just want to see how your mind works." _After all, once you get someone talking, it's so easy to find a way to manipulate them._

~*~*~*~*~*~

Fabian followed Lysander through the dungeon, looking at the wizards in each cell. They were protesters, mostly. Men and women taken as examples to anyone who went against the current Ministry. They'd gotten lucky, only having to sneak past a couple of guards to get into the dungeon. Fabian didn't like it. He didn't want to be in the Ministry's dungeon with Xenophilius Lovegood's grandson. He didn't want to be in the dungeon at all, really. All sorts of things good go wrong in a dungeon…

Lysander stopped suddenly, causing Fabian to run into him, which in turn resulted in the both of them landing their rears on the very hard stone floor.

"What was that for?" Fabian asked, rubbing his sore backside.

"She's not here," Lysander said. "Emma's not in the dungeon."

"Good. Let's get out of here, then."

"I agree." The two wizards stood up and turned to leave. Lysander froze and Fabian swore, as a very large guard headed towards them.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Marianne slipped into a more frequently used hallway. No one saw her, luckily. She was supposed to be with a guide, but had slipped into a bathroom and apparated out. She had almost reached the tour guide when she heard a shout. She saw the guide looking at several guards. Or rather, he was looking at the protesting pair of wizards the guards were attempting to escort out. Marianne walked past the tour guide to the men.

"Excuse me," she said. "What are you doing with them?" One of the guards, a wiry man with very short hair, looked at her.

"They were caught in the dungeon," he said. "Snoopin' 'round like they was up to no good."

"I told you," said one of the captives, a redhead Marianne didn't recognize. He sounded irritated. "We got lost looking for the loo. It's not our fault this place is a bloody maze."

"Quiet, you!" the other guard, a large man, growled.

"It's true!" protested the other captive, who Marianne _did_ recognize.

"They were with me," Marianne said. "We got separated. Please let them go now."

"Who are they, then?" the wiry guard asked. "If they're really your friends you'll know their names."

"Lysander works for me," she said, trying to come up with a name for the other man.

"And which is he?"

"The blond. His parents are famous researchers. The Scamanders. Maybe you've heard of them?" The guards released Lysander, who ran and stood just behind Marianne.

"And the other?" the wiry guard sneered.

"Fabian," Lysander whispered. "Fabian Prewett."

"James Brighton," Marianne said. "he's my fiancée."

"Then what is he doing here?" the large guard rumbled.

"He's from Wales," Marianne said. "Never been to London before. James wanted to see how all of this works, so I brought him along." The guards stared at her for a moment before releasing the redhead. Marianne watched them go before rounding on the two wizards.

"What in Gryffindor's name were you doing in the dungeon?" She spoke quietly, but her words were harsh.

"Don't get angry," Lysander said, trying to keep his voice down. "We were looking for someone. We weren't up to no good, I swear."

"If you were looking for Elliot, that was a fantastic waste of your time, because he's—"

"We weren't looking for him, Marianne. We were looking for Emma Grace."

"The sick girl from the Weasley's shop?"

"Yes. She was kidnapped by the Ministry."

"So you and your friend thought you'd sneak in and break her out?"

"Not by ourselves. There are six of us altogether. We didn't think we'd get caught."

"Six?" Marianne sighed. "Just be glad I showed up when I did, or you'd be locked up. My tour's just about up. You'd best leave with me when it is."

"Thank you," Lysander said, smiling slightly.

"So, who's your friend, anyway?" Marianne asked.

"James Brighton," the redhead said with a grin. "Your 'fiancée'." Lysander shoved him lightly, and the man laughed.

"His name's Fabian Prewett," the blond said.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Fred followed the empty hallway containing the offices of the higher Ministry officials. Falon and Gideon were directly ahead of him, checking empty doors. George had sent Fred a message through the coins, letting him know to check the offices. As they passed one of the doors, Fred heard voices. He stopped, listening. After a moment, Gideon turned around.

"Oy, Fred, what—?" Fred shushed him and pulled an extendable ear out of his pocket. Falon joined him as he stuck the ear under the door and listened.

"You could have chosen from any number of famous witches and wizards," a woman was saying. "You could have picked Kingsley Shacklebolt, or the great Albus Dumbledore, or Severus Snape, or any one of the four Founders of Hogwarts. And you chose a trouble-making inventor of jokes. Why?"

"I don't think you'll understand my reasoning." It was Emma.

"Tell me," the woman said.

"George took me in. He told me about his brother once, and he looked so sad. I wanted to see him smile. To give him what he lost. I owe him a lot, and I thought that if I brought his brother back, I could repay him for everything he's done for me."

"Is this her?" Falon whispered. Fred nodded and returned the ear to his pocket.

"Falon, you get Emma. I'll distract whoever's there. Gideon, you play lookout. Make sure no one shows up."

"Can do," Gideon said. "_Alohomora_." Fred slipped inside the now open door.

"I knew it…" The woman stared at him, astonished. "I knew it!" she exclaimed again, looking almost pleased. Then her smile faded, as though she had just realized something terrible. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, eyes wide. The redhead grinned.

"I'm the rescue party." He pointed his wand at the woman. "Who are you? You're not the Senior Undersecretary, I know that much. He's not a woman. Unless he's into dressing up, and you really _are_ him, of course." The woman's face turned red.

"How _dare_ you insult my brother?!" She pulled out her wand and aimed a curse at Fred. Falon ran in and grabbed Emma.

"Time to skedaddle, mate." Emma followed the thief out of the room while Fred shot a well-placed jinx that turned the woman blue. Fred bolted from the room and followed Falon and Emma down the hall, Gideon right behind. Fabian, who had managed to sneak away from Marianne and Lysander, wandered into the hallway just as Gideon and the others started running. Confused, but not wanting to get caught by whoever was chasing them, he joined his twin. The woman chased them back to the rarely used hallways they'd come from.

~*~*~*~*~*~

They would never escape. Not the way they were headed. Jess knew that she had them. She could kill them all, now that she had the girl's formula. The measurements of the different ingredients would be easy to figure out, and the girl had told her everything else.

"Avada kedavra!" Jess shouted, barely missing the young man in the back. He turned, ginger hair falling into his eyes. He had a boyish face, almost pretty. The witch froze. Something in her mind screamed "kill him!" It happened quickly. Jess raised her wand, curse on her lips. There was a flash of light, and the world went dark.

* * *

AN: Yes, I'm giving you a cliffhanger. I know that they're evil, and I hate them, too. But it's so perfect right there! Besides, I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog not too long ago, so I feel a little diabolical lately. XD

Yes, Harry made a cameo. And we actually get to see a little from Marianne's point of view in this chapter! We will see more of her in the future.

And this chapter is about eight and a half pages long without the notes. Yay!

You're probably getting tired of this every chapter, but I love my beta! ^^ *huggles her* She always finds the little weird things that I miss. There's probably gonna be a lot of them in the next chapter, because I took such a long hiatus. I'm actually surprised that there weren't more in this chapter. (If anyone cares to know, I've already started on the next chapter. If I'm lucky, writer's block will leave me alone. *knocks on wood*)

Epic thanks to Leaviel, for making my story better and for the use of Marianne. Equally epic thanks to Starkiller for the use of Falon.


	8. Chapter 7

Notes: I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get this done! *bows* Please forgive me! Life got in the way for a while. I apparently posted the last chapter in January or February, so it's been a lot longer than I had planned. .

Since the last chapter, I've had a lot going on. I got a boyfriend in February, broke up in March, had a ton of homework, had costumes to work on, and I was in another play after the first one. When summer hit, I had scout camp again. Right after camp, I had to get ready for school, and I've been busy with school since then. I still am. I've also been working on costumes for Anime Banzai. And I have a boyfriend, as of last month(I met him at camp. ^^). If you follow my journals, you know all about this stuff.

Anyway, I'll let you get on to reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. Marianne belongs to Leaviel, Caithion belongs to Caith, and Falon belongs mostly to Starkiller.

Second Chances

Chapter 7: The Future Looks Grim

_Something wicked this way comes... -Shakespeare_

James Potter sat outside his little cottage, watching the clouds of Heaven roll over his head. It had been two weeks since Fred and the Prewett twins had returned to the living world. James knew that it shouldn't take Fabian and Gideon so long to find Fred and get back. Death would notice their absence soon, if he hadn't already.

"What's taking them so long?" he wondered aloud.

"What's taking _who_ so long, Potter?" asked a cold Irish voice. It was a voice that

every soul in Heaven and Hell knew. The owner of the voice had dark hair, and was very tall. Smoke issued from the lit cigarette between his lips. James cursed under his breath.

"Remus and Sirius," he told the taller man. "We had plans today, and they're late." The tall Irishman's cold gaze never faltered. James sighed. There was no lying to the Grim Reaper.

"Caithion! How goes?" James smiled as Sirius wandered over to join them. The other man grinned up at Death. "What brings you to our humble corner of Heaven?"

"Someone's gone missing," Death replied.

"A runaway? In _Heaven_?" Sirius laughed. "You need a vacation. Who'd run away from here? There's nowhere to run."

"I did not say _runaway_, Black. I said he was missing."

"That's impossible," James interjected.

"Oh, it's quite possible," Caithion said coolly.

"I don't believe so," Sirius replied, looking skeptical.

"Oh? Then tell me, where is Fred Weasley?" James and Sirius shared a look.

"I guess that means he knows," Sirius said.

"This is bad," James added.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oi, Gid." Gideon turned to his twin.

"What's up Fab?" The Prewett twins, along with Fred and George Weasley, Lysander Scamander, Marianne Bellamy, Emma Grace, and Falon Wolf, had reached Diagon Alley and were nearing the door of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Did you notice anything strange back at that pub this morning?" Fabian asked his brother quietly.

"You mean other than the smell?" Gideon joked.

"Yeah. A feeling."

"Oh." Gideon looked seriously at his twin. "What was it, Fab?"

"My stomach tied all in knots," Fabian said, looking at the brightly decorated windows of the joke shop. "I felt like something was about to happen."

"Something _did_ happen, Fab. We went on a highly successful rescue mission." Fabian sighed.

"Gid, I still feel like something big is about to happen. Something _bad_."

"Everything'll be fine, Fab. I promise. We'll figure out how to get back to Heaven in maybe a couple of days, then you, me, and Fred will all go home." Fabian smiled, and the two entered the shop. Needless to say, she was the _last_ person they'd expected to find inside.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jeremy Drake, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, was distracted from his work for the first time in his life. Paperwork covered his desk, left abandoned. Jem himself sat gazing out the open window of his orderly office, lost in thought.

Things had gotten very strange in the last few weeks, and he had finally started to notice. How had he missed it? First, the breaking of the Statute of Secrecy, which had made sense at the time, but now Jem wondered if it had really been the best option. The Statute had been set in place to keep wizardkind safe. Even if a lot of muggles now accepted their magical neighbors, the Statute was necessary. The archaic spells from the joke shop in Diagon Alley and the dead man's name appearing in the report were strange as well. Jem was used to getting strange reports from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, but nothing like that. His sister's reaction to it was stranger yet. Why would it matter to Jess, if she wasn't involved with the Ministry? She was not the kind of person who cared about people. And after he had found her unconscious in the back halls that morning, she had seemed distracted. Jem had begged her to go see a healer, but his sister had stubbornly refused, insisting that she was fine.

"Something weird is going on," Jem muttered to himself. "And I think it's about to get a whole lot weirder."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Fred stood in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, frozen. Fabian and Gideon had barely entered the shop when they, too, stopped dead in their tracks. (Pardon the pun.) George, Marianne, and Falon looked from the three redheads to the girl who now stood before them. She had blond hair that fell past her shoulders, and her green eyes shone brightly, almost eerily. The girl wore simple jeans and a black t-shirt. The only thing about her that stood out, aside from her eyes, was the small silver pendant that hung about her neck; it was shaped like a scythe. She looked like a very nice girl, over all. Marianne wondered briefly why Fred and the Prewetts looked so scared.

The girl smiled, tilting her head to the side as though she were a child.

"About time you showed up," she said. I've been waiting over an hour for you."

"What are you doing here?" Fred managed finally.

"I think you know, Fred Weasley."

"Don't be daft," Gideon said, pushing his fear aside. "She's obviously come to take us back."

"Well," the girl said, "I actually just came for Fred. Master Caithion doesn't know that you and Fabian are missing yet. But I suppose I should take the both of you back as well. Can't have dead men wandering around London, now can we?" There was silence as the three men slowly made their way over to the girl. Emma couldn't take it.

"You can't take them away!" she exclaimed, catching everyone off guard. "We've only just gotten them back! Please, you can't separate Fred and George again." The girl turned and looked curiously at Emma.

"Miss Emma Grace, born August 13, 2029. You're ill, even though you stubbornly tell everyone you're fine. Finished school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in House Slytherin, top of your class in Potions." The girl blinked. "I believe I'll be seeing you again soon." Emma glared at her and took a step forward, but Lysander grabbed her arm.

"Best not mess with Death, Emma," he said quietly. The girl laughed. It was a pleasant sound.

"You think I'm Death?" she asked, still giggling. "Do I look like Death to you, Lysander Scamander?" Lysander blushed.

"Mum always said--"

"I know what your mum always said. 'Things are never quite what they seem.' Luna Lovegood Scamander is someone I admire quite a lot, actually. I look forward to meeting her."

"If you're not Death," Marianne interjected, "then who are you? And what business do you have taking these men?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said. "I completely forgot to introduce myself." She smiled brightly. "My name is Hel."

"Hell?" George asked. "That's, er, quite the name."

"Not Hell like the place," Falon stated. "Hel is the name of the Norse Goddess of the Underworld."

"Then why isn't she wearing fur and spouting Norse gibberish at us?" George asked.

"Because I'm one hundred percent English," Hel said. "Born and raised in England."

"Then why are you taking Fred and Gideon and Fabian?" Emma challenged.

"It's my job, silly. I work for Master Caithion." Hel smiled.

"Who's Caithion?" Falon asked.

"Caithion Sidhe," Gideon explained. "That's Master Death's given name, or so we're told."

"I didn't know he had a given name," Marianne stated.

"That's because no one ever hears the name until after they die," Hel said.

"This is ridiculous," Emma said. "Why are we chatting about the name of Death?"

"Oh, you're right. Come along, boys. I have to get you back before Master Caithion gets mad."

"Let him get mad," Emma growled. "You can't take Fred." Hel raised an eyebrow.

"You're pretty determined to keep this troublemaker around. Do you like him, or something?" Emma turned red.

"Never! Fred is the most obnoxious git I've ever met!"

"Then why keep him around?"

"Actually," Fabian added, "me and Gid have been wondering why you brought him back in the first place."

"I did it for George," Emma said. She took a deep breath. "If you'd seen the way he was before, you'd've done the same. George took me in, even though my family is a bunch of elitist pureblood snobs. ... Even though I'm sick. I owed him a lot. When I found out about Fred, how devastated George still was, I figured George would be happy if he could see him again."

"You have got to be one of the craziest girls I have ever met," Hel said. She smiled. "I think I like you."

"Um, thanks," Emma said, taken aback. "I... guess." Falon stepped forward.

"I'm afraid ya can't take our boys just yet, Lady Death," the mercenary said.

"And why not?" Hel asked, turning to face her. "I'm on strict orders to bring them straight back."

"We need them fer somethin' important," Falon stated. Marianne caught on.

"That's right!" she added. "If you take them now, all sorts of chaos will break loose!"

"It'll be as bad as, if not worse than, when Voldemort was in power," Emma said. "You can't take three of our best soldiers when we're about to go into battle."

Hel looked from Falon to Marianne to Emma, then turned her gaze to the three not-so-dead redheads. Everyone watched her, determination emanating from them. All save Lysander, who was looking a little frightened.

"Alright, firetops," Hel said, breaking the silence. She grinned. "But I want in on the action."

"Done!" said Fred, sticking out his hand. They shook on it.

"Now," Death's assistant said, all business. "What's happened so far? I want to know what we're up against here."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The dusty shelves were covered with jars and packages that promised wicked results. Parts of various animals, and perhaps humans, hung suspended from the ceiling or sat among the jars on the shelves looking menacing. Books with broken spines and cracked leather covers shouted their malicious contents to any who passed them by. The whole shop felt dark, almost as though it held an ancient evil within it's rotten walls. And perhaps it did.

Jessica Drake did not particularly like Borgin and Burke's. As a matter of fact, she did not like Knockturn Alley at all. But for someone who needed Black Market ingredients for a potion, it was the best--and perhaps only--place to get what you were looking for. And Jess needed those ingredients.

As she passed shelves of eyes and feet and fangs, Jess checked to make sure she had everything she needed. Deadly Nightshade, yew sap, elthiak venom... It was all there. She had even found the book containing the archaic spell she would use. She smiled to herself as she purchased the ingredients and stole out of the shop.

After the break-out, Jess had awoken in a back hall of the Ministry of Magic just as her brother and three other Ministry wizards had shown up. It had taken her a few moments to realize that she had been hit with a counter-curse. She suspected it had been the one at the back of the group, the one with the boyish face and lovely eyes. Jess shook her head, trying not to think about him. If she thought about him, she would become distracted, and she couldn't afford to distract herself just yet. She had a job to do. As Jem fussed over her, Jess had an idea. She silently thanked the man who had struck her. The blow from the counter-curse had given her the perfect idea...

_No one will be able to stop me now, _she thought as she hurried away from Knockturn Alley. _Only a fool would even think to try._

AN: Wow, this chapter is short. Only six pages. Oh well. At least it's done, right?

Again, I'm sorry that I took so long to put this chapter up. I'll try really hard not to take so long on the next chapter, though I'll be busy the rest of this week and all of November.

Anyway, this isn't my favorite chapter, mostly because not a whole lot happens. But it does set up a couple of things for upcoming chapters, which needed to happen.

I think there will only be a few more chapters after this. I'm getting pretty close to the end.

Epic thanks to Leaviel, for making my story better and for the use of Marianne. Equally epic thanks to Starkiller for the use of Falon, and Caith for the use of Caithion.


End file.
